CAIRO / TUNIS - The Egyptian government is set to ban the operation of 16 travel agencies for arranging "fraudulent" haj trips to Saudi Arabia for unregistered pilgrims.

At a haj deaths crisis unit meeting held on Saturday, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said he has ordered the license of these agencies to be revoked and those involved persons and entities transferred to public prosecution, according to an Egyptian cabinet statement.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the meeting that the crisis was most deadly to unregistered pilgrims, claiming that the tourism companies transporting them "did not provide any services"

The statement did not detail which agencies or concerned persons were behind organizing such trips through fraudulence or other illicit means for unregistered pilgrims to Mecca.

Madbouly updated that among more than 50,000 registered Egyptian pilgrims, a total of 31 people with "chronic diseases" were confirmed dead.

The move came amid media reports of over 600 deaths among unregistered Egyptian pilgrims during their performance of haj over the past week under the extreme heatwaves in the Saudi city. The temperatures there at times hit 51 degrees Celsius.

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the meeting that the crisis was most deadly to unregistered pilgrims, claiming that the tourism companies transporting them "did not provide any services."

He noted that his ministry would continue to coordinate with the Saudi authorities to find missing Egyptian pilgrims as soon as possible and ensure the home return of all Egyptian pilgrims.

Meanwhile, the death toll among Tunisian pilgrims who performed haj in Saudi Arabia has risen to 53, Tunisia's state television Wataniya 1 reported.

"Until this Saturday, the number of Tunisian pilgrims who died in holy places in Saudi Arabia while performing the haj rituals, increased further from 49 to 53," said the report.

The Tunisian diplomatic mission in Riyadh and the consulate general in Jeddah are currently coordinating to monitor the situation of Tunisian pilgrims who are missing, deceased, or hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, according to the report.

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On Friday, Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked Ibrahim Chaibi, the minister of religious affairs, without specifying the reason for the dismissal.

Chaibi headed the official Tunisian delegation to Saudi Arabia during this year's haj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The delegation was tasked with supporting and assisting Tunisian pilgrims during the haj.

Chaibi attributed the loss of human life to factors including the extreme temperatures surpassing 50 degrees Celsius, a significant presence of elderly pilgrims, and a high number of pilgrims with pre-existing illnesses.

Hajj, a key pillar of Islam, is annually performed in Mecca, by pilgrims from all over the world. The number of pilgrims exceeded 1.8 million this year, according to Saudi authorities.