Haj mission solves issue of 1,800 UAE pilgrims

Makkah: The issue of 1,800 pilgrims stuck at the Jeddah King Abdul Aziz airport as a result of air flight delays has been solved.

Mohammad Obaid Al Mazroui, Chairman of the UAE official Haj Mission, said the mission in cooperation and coordination with the UAE consulate in Jeddah and Saudi airlines, was able to solve the problem of 1,800 pilgrims stuck in the Jeddah King Abdul Aziz airport since Friday evening as a result of miscooperation of airway liners in carrying pilgrims according to schedule brought the delay to six flights.

Al Mazroui also lauded the intervention of the wise leadership and their ordering the UAE Consulate and Haj Mission to provide water, food, medicine, and shelter in a large number of hotels to accommodate the numbers of held up pilgrims.

Delay in take offs

Additional teams from all medical, PR and follow up committees working in the Haj Mission headed late Friday evening towards Jeddah to follow up the situation, he added, where the problem was solved and a plane carrying pilgrims took off yesterday, bringing all pilgrims back home.

Obaid Hamad Al Za'abi, Deputy Chairman of the UAE official Haj Mission, said the condition resulted of a delay in flight take offs from the Jeddah King Abdul Aziz airport to the UAE.

Al Za'abi who spent the night with the stuck pilgrims said that the mission provided hotel rooms for the pilgrims instead of leaving them in the airport.