Smooth departure of thousands of pilgrims

Saudi Gazette,

Holy City of Makkah and Taif, 04/12/2009

Faisal Bin Muhammad Nooh, a Mutawwif and member of the Board of Directors of the National Tawafa Establishment for Pilgrims from Arab countries has confirmed that some 140,000 Arab pilgrims have left the Kingdom after completing their Haj:
- 65,000 left through Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport and Jeddah Islamic Port
- 22,000 left through Madina
- 53,000 through the land border posts.
He noted that the electronic system used to ensure that pilgrims had no problems leaving the country has worked well.

By Na’eem Tamim Al-Hakim and Muhammad Sa’eed Al-Zahrani
MAKKAH/TAIF – A total of 140,000 Arab pilgrims have left the Kingdom after completing their Haj, according to the latest statistics.Faisal Bin Muhammad Nooh, a Mutawwif and member of the Board of Directors of the National Tawafa Establishment for Pilgrims from Arab countries, confirmed this total recently.He said 65,000 left through Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport and Jeddah Islamic Port. A total of 22,000 left through Madina and 53,000 through the land border posts.He said an electronic system was used to ensure that pilgrims had no problems leaving the country.Nooh said this year the establishment received 350,000 pilgrims.

Of this total 21,000 arrived through Jeddah, 8,000 through Madina and 63,000 through the land borders.Nooh said all the pilgrims were received at the start of the Haj by 122 field service groups in the establishment.Ahmad Bin Muhammad Omar Shatta, Director of the Grouping, Transportation and Ascending Administration, said 400 Saudi staffers supervised the departure of pilgrims.

Shatta said 8,750 buses have been allocated to transport pilgrims to Jeddah and Madina in preparation for their departure.Shatta said 13 centers have been set up at land, sea and air exit points to supervise the departure of pilgrims.He said the centers are in Jeddah, Madina and Al-Leeth, and at King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Jeddah Islamic Port, Madina, Sultana District in Madina and Yanbu Port. He said there are five centers in Jeddah, Madina and Yanbu. Shatta said there was strict supervision of the centers. He said there was direct cooperation with the Ministry of Haj, the Haj missions and Passports Department to ensure the smooth departure.

Egyptian official praises Kingdom’s Haj services. A total of 75,000 Egyptian pilgrims were provided with excellent service in the Kingdom, according to Maj. Gen. Salah Hashim, Egyptian Assistant Minister of Interior and Head of the Egyptian mission.“We received better than excellent services, for accommodation, meals and transportation for all the Egyptian pilgrims.

The giant projects carried out at the holy sites, are clear evidence of the Kingdom’s intent to provide facilities for all pilgrims.”Hashim rejected reports in the Egyptian media about allegedly bad services provided to Egyptian pilgrims this year.“The services we were provided refute these reports totally.” The services were “magnificent”, he said. – Okaz/SG