2.5 million Muslim pilgrims descend on Saudi for hajj

An estimated 2.5 million Muslims have converged on Mecca for the annual hajj pilgrimage, as workers toil round the clock to complete construction projects designed to avoid deadly stampedes.

This year's hajj is also taking place amid fears of the spread of swine flu as pilgrims flooded into the kingdom from around the globe.

Four have already died from the A(H1N1) virus, the authorities said, but yesterday the health ministry played down the swine flu risk to the hajj.

"There is no risk of the illness spreading as we are well-prepared and have taken the necessary measures" to prevent an outbreak, ministry spokesman Dr Khaled Marghlani told a news conference.

All of this year's pilgrims were due in the holy city late yesterday in time to begin the hajj rites today, day one of the six-day season.

The rites begin with the tawaf, the circling seven times of the cubic Kaaba building in the centre of the Grand Mosque, in whose direction all Muslims around the world pray.

Pilgrims then proceed to Mina to spend the night before climbing Mount Arafat tomorrow.

The Grand Mosque can hold more than one million people, but the Saudi hajj authorities have been working to boost its capacity to cope with the steadily rising number of pilgrims.

Work is under way to double the mosque's capacity by adding another 300,000 square metres, according to a hajj official, after King Abdullah agreed two years ago that the northern mosque's esplanades can be expanded.