CAIRO, Jun 23 (NNN-MENA) – The Egyptian government is set to ban the operation of 16 travel agencies, for arranging “fraudulent” Hajj trips to Saudi Arabia, for unregistered pilgrims.
At a Hajj deaths crisis unit meeting, held yesterday, Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, said, he has ordered the license of these agencies to be revoked, and those involved persons and entities transferred to public prosecution, according to an Egyptian cabinet statement.
The statement did not detail which agencies or concerned persons were behind organising such trips, through fraudulence or other illicit means, for unregistered pilgrims to Mecca.
Madbouly updated that, among more than 50,000 registered Egyptian pilgrims, a total of 31 people with “chronic diseases” were confirmed to have died.
The move came, amid media reports of over 600 deaths, among unregistered Egyptian pilgrims, during their performance of the Hajj over the past week, under extreme heatwaves in the Saudi city. The temperatures there at times hit 51 degrees Celsius.
Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, told the meeting, the crisis was most deadly to unregistered pilgrims, claiming, the companies transporting them “did not provide any services.”
He noted that, his ministry would continue to coordinate with the Saudi authorities, to find missing Egyptian pilgrims, as soon as possible, and ensure the home return of all Egyptian pilgrims.
Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, is annually performed by pilgrims from all over the world. The number of pilgrims has exceeded 1.8 million this year, according to Saudi authorities.– NNN-MENA
