Egypt has the most Arab pilgrims on Haj this year, with 67,470 or 25 percent of 260,000 from 19 countries.

A report by the National Tawafa Establishment for Pilgrims of Arab Countries revealed that 122,080 pilgrims arrived in the Kingdom at King Abdulaziz International Airport, 14,215 at Jeddah Islamic Port, 70,578 in Madinah, and 15,058 at Al-Burj station in the city.

The report stated that 33 Arab pilgrims died on Haj. Egypt had the most deaths with 11 pilgrims, followed by six Iraqis, six Sudanese and three Moroccans.

The second-highest number of pilgrims came from Algeria with 28,406, followed by Morocco with 26,990, Iraq 26,191, Sudan 26,123, Yemen 19,894, Tunisia 9,048, and Syria with 2,019.

A total of 15,000 Haj visas were issued for Syrians under the supervision of the Syrian coalition, for pilgrims traveling from Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. The report found that the poor condition of Syrians resulted in the reduced numbers. Last year 1,000 Syrians performed Haj.

Faisal bin Muhammad Nouh, a mutawwif and chairman of the tawafa body, said plans were in place to cater for Syrian pilgrims. “Several meetings were held with Muhammad Shukri, the head of the Syrian pilgrim affairs office, to welcome Syrians coming from neighboring countries, but to no avail.”