‘They were my rock and soul’: Maryland couple among hundreds dead while on pilgrimage to Mecca amid severe heat
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — couple from Maryland with deep ties to community passed away during a pilgrimage to Mecca due to severe heat.
Haja Isatu Wurie, 65, and her husband, Alhaji Alieu Dausy, 71, traveled to Saudi Arabia nearly two weeks ago as part of their Islamic religion.
Their daughter, Saida Wurie, said in an interview that the couple went missing last Sunday. Two days later, their family received a call the two had passed away.
Officials said their deaths were due to a heat stroke.
“My parents meant the world to me. Anyone who knows me knows that they were my rock and soul,” said their daughter Saida Wurie. “It was just hard to hear, I’m still not able to truly comprehend it. So it’s going to be one day at a time.”
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The couple was part of a group of nearly 100 other pilgrims that traveled with a touring company called “Ehajj and Umrah Tour,” owned and operated in Silver Spring.
Saida said her parents kept in contact with all of her siblings throughout the trip.
They told her days into the trip that the company did not provide them with the credentials needed to complete their pilgrimage and lacked transportation, food and supplies needed during their week-long journey.
“After a few days, they had to fend for themselves. They had to buy a rice cooker to make breakfast, lunch and dinner just to survive. It’s already 110 degrees, and you’re not in decent conditions, it’s just too much,” she said. “I just hope that the agency isn’t allowed to take anyone there, especially after each person paid “$11,500…[T]he return was nothing compared to what they expected.”
According to public records, the touring company is not in “good standing” with the State of Maryland.
Despite the family’s disappointment, Saida said knowing her parents died while seeking their faith brings her a sense of peace.
Hundreds died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia amid intense heat, officials say
“Knowing that this is what they really want to do, and they died in such a holy place. It gives me a little bit of ease,” she said.
The Bowie couple had three children and four grandkids. Isatu was a retired nurse and she worked at Prince George’s County Hospital.
The couple also served as part of County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’s team.
Wurie, Alsobrooks said, served as a member of the African Diaspora Advisory Board and was also a member of the Jamil-Ul-Jalil Organization.
“Haja Isatu Wurie was an incredibly active member of our community. She was involved in several community organizations, making transformational impacts that were felt both locally and globally,” she wrote in a post on Instagram.
Mecca, a city in western Saudi Arabia, is considered the holiest of Muslim cities and the birthplace of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. All devout and able Muslims attempt a hajj – or pilgrimage – to Mecca at least once in their lifetime, making the trip a lifelong dream for the couple.
The family says the couple was buried before the family could make arrangements, and they’re working with the U.S. embassy to travel to Saudi Arabia and find their burial ground.
DC News Now reached out to the touring company for comment but did not get a response as of Sunday night.
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