More than a hundred Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims had to buy fresh bus tickets to Mecca after landing at Jeddah airport as they lost the previous tickets during the journey.
Hajj office sources said the pilgrims, who all travelled under private arrangements by Saudi Airlines, lost their bus tickets, and the majority of them were elderly men.
Mizanur Rahman, director of the hajj office under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told the Dhaka Tribune a total of 114 pilgrims had to pay 1,077 Saudi Riyals each to buy new tickets.
“As per the direction of the Saudi authorities, all the pilgrims were given their bus tickets but those who are particularly very old lost theirs. Upon landing at the airport, they had to show their tickets and passports but the 114 failed to do so as they forgot where they kept the tickets,” he said.
Mizanur also said the passengers who would take the upcoming flights should carefully carry their tickets with them, adding that they would have to pay 1,077 Saudi Riyals in case they lose it.
Meanwhile, all 835 private hajj agencies eventually received valid bar codes from the Saudi Arabian government to arrange visas for pilgrims.
Just a couple of days ago, uncertainty loomed over more than 100 agencies that were yet to get their bar codes but everything worked out all right in the end.
The Religious Affairs Ministry recently issued an emergency notice asking the agencies to submit passports of the pilgrims along with necessary documents within yesterday at the hajj office as the Saudi embassy had said it would not entertain any visa application after tomorrow.
The Saudi authorities introduced the bar code system this year. To obtain the bar code, an agency was required to submit valid documents of accommodation, food and other arrangements.
Mizanur yesterday said all the pilgrims of all agencies would hopefully get visas and fly to Saudi in time.
“There is nothing to worry about,” he said.
Till yesterday, more than 50,000 pilgrims reached Saudi to perform hajj likely to be held on October 4. Hajj officials said more and more pilgrims are leaving the country as the largest congregation of the Muslims is approaching.
The first flight left on August 27 and the expected date of departure of the last flight is September 30.
Hajj office sources said only three to five flights left the country every day with 1,000-2,000 passengers at the outset but now the number of flights has risen to 9-10 flight with 4,000-5,000 passengers on an average.
A total of Bangladeshi 98,683 pilgrims would perform hajj this year. Of them, a mere 1,505 would fly under government arrangements and the rest would go via private agencies.
