Egypt revokes licenses of travel companies involved in unregistered pilgrims tragedy

CAIRO – 22 June 2024: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly has ordered the swift revocation of licenses for 16 tourism companies that organized the travel of unregistered pilgrims without providing them with the necessary services, resulting in the tragic deaths of many individuals.

The prime minister has also instructed that the officials of these companies be referred to the public prosecution, and the companies be fined to compensate the families of the deceased pilgrims.

Madbouly's directives came as he chaired a crisis cell comprised of ministers and relevant state bodies, formed to address the deaths of pilgrims during this year's Hajj season, as per the instructions of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Amid scorching temperatures reaching around 50 degrees Celsius in Makkah over the past days, about 1.8 million people from around the world have performed Hajj this year.

According to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP) last week, over 1,000 pilgrims have lost their lives during this year's Hajj, including more than 600 Egyptians, primarily due to the extreme heat.

Unregistered pilgrimage

Last week, Madbouly stated that the official Egyptian Hajj mission this year comprised 50,752 individuals.

He further noted that 31 citizens from this mission had passed away due to pre-existing chronic illnesses.

However, the Cabinet has confirmed the presence of a significant number of Egyptian pilgrims who are not registered in the official Hajj databases.

Madbouly emphasized on Thursday that due to the lack of registered data for these unregistered pilgrims with the medical mission, monitoring their health conditions has been challenging.

The crisis cell aims to provide support to the families of the deceased pilgrims and coordinate with Saudi authorities to facilitate the necessary procedures.

The task force is also responsible for investigating the causes of this crisis and implementing measures to prevent its recurrence.

Punishing violators

On Thursday, Madbouly announced that an investigation will be launched into the companies responsible for organizing the travel of unregistered Hajj pilgrims.

He underscored that decisive actions will be taken and severe penalties will be imposed to prevent such violations from happening again in the future.

Madbouly highlighted that a consular task force, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is currently conducting on-site visits to hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

The aim of the task force is to gather data on Egyptian pilgrims receiving treatment or who have passed away and cross-reference it with the information provided by families of those reported missing.