JEDDAH: A total of 656,748 Haj pilgrims from various countries arrived in the Kingdom till Friday, and efforts by the Haj affairs offices and various delegation heads to serve the guests of God are in full swing.
According to figures released by the Passport Department, 641,896 pilgrims arrived by air, 7,748 by land and 7,104 by sea.
Meanwhile, the management of the Tawafa Committee for Non-Arab African Pilgrims has succeeded in arranging 11,458 pilgrims into groups to visit the Grand Mosque, Abdullah Sadiq Lashkar, the head of the committee, told local media.
“The establishment thoroughly follows up on plans for the central Tawafa branch and also monitors all the output and workshops in cooperation with the committee’s coordinating group and field offices, under the supervision of Othman Qazaz, director of Tawafa,” said Lashkar.
Husain Mitwalli, vice president of Tawafa, said the grouping of pilgrims starts as soon as they arrive to Makkah: “The committee’s employees head straight to the pilgrim’s lodgings to continue communicating with the heads of the Haj missions to define the exact schedules for the grouping of pilgrims.”
He said the supervisors of the program communicate through messages to ensure efficiency, as well as to make sure the pilgrims wear their electronic bracelets and abide by all the instructions for prayers and rituals.
This strong communication allows sufficient time for the pilgrims to drink Zamzam water and enables leaders to provide the best services to them.
