JEDDAH, 19 December 2004 — Fifteen flights will bring a total of 5,675 Indonesian pilgrims today. They are part of 205,000 pilgrims — the same as last year — who will be coming from Indonesia for the upcoming Haj.
The first group of pilgrims will be received at the Haj Terminal by Indonesian Consul General Tajuddin Noor and those flying direct to Madinah will be given a reception by Mohammed Fouzi Ekonugroho, charge d’affaires at the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh.
The first flight will land at 2:45 p.m. at the Haj Terminal, followed by nine more during the day. Five other flights will land in Madinah airport. While Saudi Arabian Airlines will operate two of the day’s flights, Garuda Indonesia is operating the day’s remaining 13 flights.
In all 480 flights will be operated in the first phase — 376 flights arriving at the Haj Terminal and 104 others in Madinah.
The country’s four-member official Haj delegation will be led by Tolhah Hassan, former minister of religious affairs. The delegation will arrive a few days before the commencement of the pilgrimage.
Of 205,000 pilgrims coming this time, 8,000 are coming through the tour operators. This means a majority of them are coming through the official committee under the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Five hundred Indonesian pilgrims died during the last Haj, including 56 in the stampede during the stoning ritual in Jamrat. “The Kingdom is financing the pilgrimage of three relatives of each of the 56 pilgrims killed in the stampede,” a consulate official said, adding that the arrival of these relatives is being finalized with the cooperation of the Kingdom.
