Airlift to repatriate Egyptian lottery pilgrims from Saudi Arabia starting Monday

MECCA – 23 June 2024: Airlift operations to transport lottery Hajj pilgrims from Saudi Arabia back to Egypt will start on Monday, announced Mostafa Hussein, the Assistant Minister of Interior for Administrative Affairs and Head of the Official Hajj Mission.

Speaking to MENA, Hussein stated that preparations have been intensified at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Medina to receive the pilgrims and facilitate their return to their homeland.

He affirmed the well-being of the Egyptian pilgrims, noting that those receiving treatment at hospitals are in stable condition.

This year's Hajj season witnessed the participation of about 1.8 million people, including 50,752 Egyptian pilgrims, despite the scorching temperatures that reached up to 50 degrees Celsius in Makkah in recent days.

Tragically, this year's Hajj has been marred by the deaths of over 1,000 pilgrims, including more than 600 Egyptians, as reported by AFP. The primary cause of these deaths has been attributed to the extremely high temperatures.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry revealed on Saturday that most of the Egyptian fatalities among the pilgrims were individuals who were not officially registered, as the tourism companies responsible for organizing their Hajj journey failed to provide them with the necessary services.

In response, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly promptly ordered the revocation of licenses for 16 tourism companies that facilitated the travel of unregistered pilgrims.

He 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 were issued as he chaired a crisis cell consisting of ministers and relevant state bodies, established to address the deaths of pilgrims during this year's Hajj season, following the instructions of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

The Cabinet affirmed the presence of a significant number of Egyptian pilgrims who were not registered in the official Hajj databases.

Madbouly highlighted the challenge of monitoring the health conditions of these unregistered pilgrims due to the lack of available data.

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

The story was reported by Egypt Today Staff and MENA.