MAKKAH: More than a million pilgrims arrived in the sprawling tent city of Mina, on Makkah`s outskirts, for overnight stay before the Haj`s high-point on Thursday prayers on Mount Arafat where the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) delivered his final sermon.

As pilgrimage rites kicked off under a merciless sun, Saudi officials ratcheted up heat protection measures, such as extra shade, to avoid a repeat of last year when 1,301 people died as temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius.

About 1.4 million pilgrims areexpected to perform Haj this year.

Thousands of pilgrims had begun trickling into Mina on Tuesday afternoon, greeted by staff offering them coffee and dates.

Before leaving Makkah for Mina, pilgrims performed the Tawaf walking seven times around the Kaaba.

`I am so happy, it`s such an amazing feeling,` said Reem al Shogre, a 35-year-old Saudi performing Haj for the first time.

Following last year`s lethal heatwave, Saudi authorities have mobilised more than 40 government agencies and 250,000 officials to improve protection.

Shaded areas have been enlarged by 50,000 square metres (12 acres), thousands of additional medics are on standby and more than 400 cooling units have been deployed, Haj Minister Tawfiq al Rabiah said.Artificial intelligence technology will help process the deluge of data, including video from a new fleet of drones, to better manage the massive crowds.

The technology has proven pivotal to track the overwhelming amount of footage from more than 15,000 cameras in and around the holy city of Makkah.

The systems are tuned to spot abnormal crowd movements or predict bottlenecks in foot traffic a potential life-saver at a packed event with a history of deadly stampedes.

Software is also used to help guide more than 20,000 buses deployed to transport pilgrims between holy sites during one of the world`s biggest annual religious gatherings.

On hillsides nearby, cameras that resemble little white robots filmbuildings, roads and pathways along the Haj route, which winds more than 20km between Makkah and Mount Arafat.

Haj permits are allocated to countries on a quota basis and distributed to individuals by lottery.

But even for those who can obtain them, the steep costs prompt many to attempt Haj without a permit, even though they risk arrest and deportation if caught.

Large crowds have proved hazardous in the past, most notably in 2015 when a stampede during the `stoning the devil` rite in Mina killed up to 2,300 people the deadliest Haj disaster.

Saudi Arabia earns billions of dollars a year from Islam`s most important rite and the lesser pilgrimage, known as Umra, which is undertaken at other times of the year.-AFP