MAKKAH, Dec 28: The largest annual gathering of Muslims unrolled on Thursday as over two million Haj pilgrims began the trek to Mina. A biting cold welcomed the pilgrims to the tent city.

By the evening, the sleepy valley was throbbing with life as a mosaic of humanity descended on it. Chanting `O Allah, I am here’, most of the pilgrims reached Mina in the afternoon. On Friday morning, the pilgrims will move from the tent village towards the plains of Arafat to mark the standing on Arafat — a major pillar of Haj.With 155,000 pilgrims, Pakistanis, as usual, are among the largest contingents.

It is expected that as this year’s Haj falls on a Friday (Haj-i-Akbar), the number of pilgrims could swell to three million. Almost two million people have come from outside Saudi Arabia.

A number of leaders from the Muslim world will also perform Haj. Among them are Sudanese President Omer Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir, the Vice-President of Mauritius, Sierra Leone’s president and Iraq’s vice-president.

More than 50,000 security personnel have been deployed to respond to any emergency. The Saudi civil defence department has mobilised more than 12,000 officials. A fleet of helicopters is monitoring the movement of pilgrims round the clock.