This year’s pilgrimage, attended by more than 1.8 million people, was under tight logistical planning and safety precautions designed to manage the intense heat and large crowds

Pilgrims were set to perform the last major ritual of the hajj -- the "stoning of the devil" -- on Friday, as Muslims around the globe celebrated the beginning of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Thousands of white-robed pilgrims recited Quranic verses from dawn on the 70-meter rocky rise near Mecca, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his last sermon.