Lankan Pilgrim Dies at Airport

RIYADH, 2 March 2006 — One of the Sri Lankan Haj pilgrims breathed his last at the Colombo International Airport last Thursday. Consul General Masihudeen Inamullah said that Mustaffa Ahamed Kalanther Lebbe, 70, who could not return home with other pilgrims due to his serious illness died at the Bandaraniake International Airport.

Kalanther Lebbe was admitted in Al-Hera Hospital in Makkah for seven days when he slipped into a coma. “We sent him to Colombo with an escort by Saudi Arabian Airlines. But he developed breathing problems before landing at the airport and died at the terminal while being taken out of the airport.