Instead they said they would stay in the holy city and travel on Thursday morning directly to Mount Arafat, where Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) gave his last sermon and where pilgrims are required to recite the Quran and pray. "We delayed going to Mina because of the heavy rain in Mecca. We were afraid of becoming sick," said Iraqi Iyad Badawi, 40, undertaking the Haj with his wife. "We will go to Arafat directly after midnight" by bus, he said.
Earlier on Wednesday the rain had sparked worries among Haj officials over possible flooding. At least 10 people were killed by flooding in Jeddah, gateway to the Haj, officials said. A sea of pilgrims from all over the world, dressed in white robes and towels, began the five-day Haj late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday, circling Holy Kaaba inside Masjid Nabavi.
Few people appeared concerned over the major threat to the Haj, swine flu, despite the news that four pilgrims had died from the disease before the rites officially began. Saudi health officials said that all four had already been suffering from other health problems, one from cancer and another from heart disease.
Proven and suspected infections from the (H1N1) flu among Hajis were just 67, health ministry spokesman Dr Khaled Marghlani told AFP on Wednesday. "Everything is going smoothly, thanks to God," he said. Marghlani said the rain could increase health risks for pilgrims, but that the authorities had "planned for this possibility." Traffic was jammed around Makkah late on Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of latecomers arrived to begin Haj, required for all able Muslims at least once in their lifetime.