JEDDAH, 23 December — The Ministry of Haj has arranged accommodation for 300 pilgrims who were found camping on pavements and parking lots at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, a top official at the ministry said yesterday.

The pilgrims will stay in a city hotel until their return to their respective countries. The Umrah service establishments which brought the pilgrims to the Kingdom will be forced to foot the hotel bills, said Saleh Al-Bantan, undersecretary for Umrah affairs at the ministry.

Most of the 1.9 million foreigners who came to perform Umrah during Ramadan have already left the country. The pilgrims, who will return by sea, have been given accommodation in the Pilgrims’ City near Jeddah Islamic Port.

Passport officials are scouring the city for pilgrims camping on street pavements. Authorities are investigating the Umrah service companies which brought the pilgrims to the country but failed to provide them with accommodation, as stipulated in their contracts with the ministry.

The licenses of 25 establishments have been suspended for between one to three months because they failed to fulfill their contractual obligations. Some of these firms were found violating pilgrim-visa regulations in collusion with foreign tourist companies, Al-Bantan said.

Many Umrah establishments have complained that several pilgrims disappeared after their arrival in the Kingdom.

The government has licensed 250 companies to offer the service. But nearly 15 percent of them have yet to start their operations.

He added that 45 expatriates who had arranged accommodation for pilgrims at unlicensed buildings were also arrested.

Each day, three or four ships are leaving Jeddah Islamic Port carrying between 2,500 and 3,000 pilgrims, said Adil Bukhair, director of the Umrah department at the ministry. New booking counters have been opened at the Pilgrims’ City for those who do not have reservations for their return voyage or have lost their tickets.

According to reports from Madinah, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims attended the Friday congregation at the Prophet’s Mosque before embarking on their return journey.

Some of them had spent the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan in the precincts of the Prophet’s Mosque, which is the second most sacred mosque in Islam.

Several new lounges and special counters have been opened at the Prince Muhammad Airport in Madinah to serve the huge number of returning pilgrims. Saudi Arabian Airlines is also operating extra flights to Jeddah and Riyadh from Madinah to help pilgrims leave the Kingdom before their visas expire.

Preparations have to be made for the upcoming Haj season once the Umrah pilgrims leave the country.

Meanwhile, Director General of the Saudi Arabian Airlines Dr. Khaled ibn Bakr said the airline transported 1.5 million passengers on 8,700 flights, which included international and domestic — both scheduled and additional — over the past 45 days.

The airline will transport 830,000 Haj pilgrims from 57 stations around the world, Ibn Bakr added.