Hajj pilgrims complain about delayed flights on way home

Back home from Saudi Arabia, Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims have resented the suffering cause by the delayed flights.

Many spoke to bdnews24.com on Wednesday at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after their arrival from Makkah.
 
Anisur Rahman of Patuakhali, who flew in on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight at noon, said he was scheduled to return in a flight that was to have taken off for Bangladesh on Monday afternoon Saudi time.
 
“I was told at the last moment that the flight’s date was changed. I had to stay in the airport the past two days.”
 
Until the next flight, an airline is supposed to arrange accommodation and food of the passengers if their flight schedule is changed, but Anisur said he got no such assistance from anyone.
 
“There wasn’t anyone to even give us a glass of water. We even pleaded for help to those who were supposed to serve us, but in vain,” he said.
 
Al Arafa Aviation official Saidul Islam was seen waiting outside the airport’s terminal for the arrival of three pilgrims who went to perform Hajj through his agency.
 
“The last update said the Biman flight they are on was delayed by three hours,” he said.
 
Sultan Ahmed of Dhaka’s Badda had a similar story. “Our flight took off two hours late. Nothing went wrong in the flight, but our suffering at Jeddah airport earlier knew no bounds.”
 

“Nobody told us clearly when our flight will leave,” he added.

The first Biman flight bringing the Hajj pilgrims back also landed in Dhaka seven hours behind schedule on Monday.

The national flag carrier had six regular and scheduled Hajj return flights on Wednesday while Saudi Arabian Airlines had five such flights.

One of two flights scheduled to arrive on Tuesday landed in Dhaka in the wee hours of Wednesday. The other touched down at 5:10am.

Another Biman flight from Jeddah landed here around 2:30pm.

Passengers of all three flight alleged that none of the planes took off on time, which made flights land at least two hours behind schedule at Shahjalal International Airport.

A Biman media statement clarified that the first return flight was delayed due to ‘unusual’ pressure of huge number of pilgrims at Jeddah airport and the Saudi authorities’ strict security measures that made the pilgrims report late for boarding the planes.

Return flights of all airlines including Biman were consequently arriving at their destinations late, it said.

The statement also said this situation would continue for the next two or three days.

This year more than 100,000 people from Bangladesh went to perform the Hajj.

Half of them are being carried by Biman flights and the other half by Saudi Arabian Airlines in line with a deal inked between the governments of the two countries.

Biman will operate return flights until Oct 28 to bring the pilgrims back.​

Right at the beginning of this year’s Hajj, 117 people, including a Bangladeshi national, were killed when a crane toppled over at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Later, towards the close of the pilgrimage on Sep 24, 769 people were killed in a stampede at Mina while the devotees were on their way to the stoning ritual at the pillars symbolising Satan.

Until Sunday, the Saudi authorities released 650 photographs of those who died in the stampede. The Bangladesh foreign ministry has identified 26 of them as Bangladeshis.