MUZDALIFA, 12 February 2003 — Thousands of pilgrims from Southeast Asia, Turkey, Australia and the United States had to trudge from Muzdalifa to Mina on Sunday night when a shuttle service introduced for the first time this year failed to materialize.
The Ministry of Haj, in coordination with the Ministry of Communications, had deployed on a trial basis a shuttle bus service to ferry the pilgrims from Makkah to Arafat, Arafat to Muzdalifa, and finally Muzdalifa to Mina.
A road was built for this express purpose and the Establishment of Mutawwifs for Southeast Asian Pilgrims paid for it at a cost of SR100 million.
The shuttle service failed to arrive, leaving thousands of pilgrims stranded at Muzdalifa, where they had stopped to collect stones to use for the subsequent ritual stoning of the devil.
Over 300,000 were left without information or transport in a derelict area of half a square kilometer. It was littered with rocks and stones and had no water supply and inadequate sanitation facilities.
Police and other security officials finally arrived at 10 a.m. yesterday, but late in the afternoon the majority of the pilgrims were still waiting under the blazing sun at Muzdalifa — hoping that the promised shuttle service would arrive.
While the young were able to walk the five kilometers to Mina, the old and infirm had no choice but to wait.
They were unable to leave Muzdalifa by sunset or sacrifice animals on Eid day, both crucial Haj rituals.
Dozens of frustrated Indonesian pilgrims eventually blocked one of the main roads in protest.
Representatives from the Haj service groups tried to pacify them and brought the situation under control.
