Hajj return flights delayed at Jedda

The first return hajj flight was scheduled to reach Shahjalal Airport at 8:40 pm on Saturday but it arrived six hours late. Its 419 passengers suffered during the wait. Meanwhile, the second and third flights landed at 9:20am and 1:20 pm respectively. Both flights carried over 600 pilgrims. Moniruzzaman, a pilgrim said “the muallem (attendant) was supposed to send a car at 11pm on Friday, but the bus reached at 6am on Saturday morning. We could not reach the airport on time.” Noor Hossain, another hajj pilgrim said that they had to wait for 16 hours at a tin-shed building at the airport to catch the flight as the guide had their passports. “There were no muallems to respond to our queries. We went to Biman officials to check on the muallems to no avail. Since they could not reach the airport on time, we could not check-in either. The muallems were unavailable to provide any service at all,” he added. Mosharraf Hossain, another pilgim who returned on Sunday said the pilgrims of other countries rested at the terminal so the Bangladeshis could not find any place to rest. Biman management said though the Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft reached the airport on time, but the delay was caused by the pilgrims not reporting in. The return Hajj flights will continue till October 16. The national flag carrier will operate 137 flights to bring back all the pilgrims to Bangladesh.