Plans to airlift Ghanaians from Saudi Arabia to Accra suffers another glitch

Plans by the National Hajj Committee to airlift Ghanaians from Saudi Arabia to Accra Saturday have suffered another glitch.

This is the second such incident after plans to bring the first batch of Ghanaian pilgrims on Thursday was aborted.

The difficulties have been attributed to difficulties with flight arrangements.

Deputy Communications Director at the Hajj Committee, Mahamed Amin Lamptey in an interview with Joy News said arrangements have been made with Dutch Airlines to airlift pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to Accra on Monday.

He said the flight will leave Saudi Arabia at 6:00am and land in Accra at 12:00.

The Hajj Committee, he indicated is bearing any additional cost that is being incurred in keeping the pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

This year’s Hajj pilgrimage has been a rather troubling one. More than 700 pilgrims were reported dead in a stampede near the Islamic holy city of Mecca.

Another 863 people were injured in the incident which occurred as two million pilgrims were taking part in the Hajj's last major rite.

The pilgrims were travelling to Mina, a large valley about 5km (3 miles) from Mecca to throw seven stones at pillars called Jamarat, which represents the devil.

It is the deadliest incident to occur during the Hajj in 25 years.

Two weeks earlier, preparations for the Hajj were marred when a crane collapsed at Mecca's Grand Mosque killing 109 people.

Earlier this week, figures made available to Joy News indicated that a total of 12 Ghanaian pilgrims had died in Saudi Arabi, five through natural causes and seven as a result of the stampede.

Six had been hospitalized and responding to treatment while a total of 29 had gone missing.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | [email protected]