Probe launched over ticketless passengers boarding trains

The Haj and Umrah committee at Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) complained yesterday to the Ministry of Haj that Mashair Railways trains allowed thousands of pilgrims without tickets to board while thousands more passengers holding valid passes were stranded.
Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, deputy chairman of the Supreme Haj Committee and the chairman of the Central Haj Committee, said more than 150,000 ticketless and undocumented pilgrims rushed to the railway station yesterday causing a stampede at the station while licensed pilgrims waited for their turn to board trains.
“The situation caused suspension of trains for 90 minutes resulting in a delay in the movement of regular pilgrims. Officials also were forced to carry 680,000 pilgrims above the capacity of trains to carry 530,000 pilgrims,” the official said.
Usama Filali, head of Haj and Umrah committee at MCCI, filed the complaint with the Haj Ministry.
“The memo that we presented to the Haj Ministry called the train operating company to pay SR 500 million in compensation to the pilgrims,” said Saad Al-Qurashi, member of MCCI board council.
Although the train ticket’s price is considered high for many pilgrims, about 540,000 pilgrims bought ticket costing SR 250 each in order to move among holy areas easily for four days.
“The ticket’s prices are too high, but most pilgrims bought them aiming to move easily especially when the train transfer the pilgrims from one area to another within eight minutes,” said Al-Qurashi.
He added, “What happened yesterday was miserable as the train carried large number of pilgrims who don’t have tickets. However, more than 150,000 pilgrims who bought train tickets were left in the train station.
Pilgrims have been gathering at the train station for more than five hours, waiting for the train to return and transfer them, said Al-Qurashi.
“Due to crowded conditions and hot weather there were large numbers of fainting and loss of consciousness among pilgrims while they were waiting for five hours in the train station,” he said. “Until now we don’t know what happened to pilgrims who had been transferred to the hospitals yesterday,” said Al-Qurashi.
According to Al-Qurashi, the company that operates the train rented buses to transfer the missed pilgrims. About 70,000 pilgrims used those buses that take more than 1 1/2 hours to move among holy areas.
“We are trying our best to find out solutions for having more organized Haj,” he said.
Trains ferried 200,000 more pilgrims than their original capacity from Arafat on Thursday, a railway official said.
Mashair Railways trains carried 740,000 pilgrims instead of 540,000 trains from Arafat to Muzdalifa,” said Director General of the Mashair Railway Fahd Abu Tarbush in a statement on Friday.
He attributed the reason for the beyond capacity trains to the huge number of people remaining at the Arafat railway station. He also said the trains were operated until 2:45 a.m. instead of halting the services at midnight.
He also said authorities will examine why some tawafa establishments failed to organize their pilgrims to match to the train schedules.
Abu Tarbush said the guarding and security of railway gates would be handed to a specialized agency in future.
Prince Khaled Al-Faisal said a tawafa establishment is facing investigation for its involvement in the incident.
The situation also led to a stampede at the Station No. 3 in Arafat injuring 36 elderly and female pilgrims. None of the injuries were critical and 18 of them were given first-aid. Others were taken to hospital. Fifteen first-aid teams including five motor-cyclists rushed to the location.
While 18 cases were treated at a Arafat hospital, the remaining pilgrims were given first aid at the accident site, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
In another development an Iranian pilgrim was killed and 25 pilgrims injured when two buses carrying pilgrims had an accident close to the King Khaled tunnel in Mina. While injuries of 11 pilgrims are critical 15 others sustained medium level or minor injuries.
The train project is part of a costly program by Saudi Arabia to tackle massive traffic congestion in and around the city and facilitate access to all sites in Makkah. The train project initiated three years ago followed a series of incidents such as building collapses and other accidents during the few days of the Haj season.