Nearly 210 pilgrims, who flew back from Jeddah on a Saudia flight on Monday night after performing Hajj, received their luggage after over 10 hours of their arrival at Dhaka airport.
Since the Saudia authorities did not provide hotel facilities for the passengers, the Hajj pilgrims had to spend the night at the airport without any supervision.
When contacted, Airport Executive Director Group Captain Muhammed Kamrul Islam on Tuesday said: "The passengers received the luggage in the morning after another flight of the airliner brought it.
“The passengers had been informed that Saudia would provide home delivery of the luggage to them. But they chose to wait at the airport voluntarily and meals were provided."
He added that in such situations the airline authorities must provide hotel facilities as per their passenger service policy and give Hajj pilgrims the highest priority.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, many of the Hajj pilgrims deplored the non-cooperation of the airline authorities.
After landing at the airport, the passengers were told that their luggage would arrive on the next flight which might be delayed by 10 to 12 hours. They were asked to stay outside the concourse hall of the airport.
Some of the pilgrims slept on chairs while some others roamed around the airport.
Acknowledging the matter, a top official of Saudia told this correspondent that flight-3806 landed at Dhaka airport with 318 Hajj passengers at 1:45am on Monday.
However, it was not possible to bring everyone's luggage from Jeddah due to tight flight schedules and load factors, the official said, seeking anonymity.
Asked what arrangements the airline had taken for the passengers at the airport, he said: "We have provided food to 210 Haj pilgrims."
However, the pilgrims said that the only food they were served was breakfast items served at 8am and nothing else.
After another Saudia flight landed at Dhaka airport at 9am, the airline authorities handed over the luggage, ZamZam water, Arabian dates and other belongings to the passengers at 10am.
