From the news desk

60 Umrah pilgrims in Saudi fail to depart for SA

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Around 60 mutamireen from South Africa were unable to board a plane from Jeddah to Johannesburg on Sunday evening. President of the South African Travel, Hajj and Umrah Association (SATHOA), Seddick Steenkamp said on Monday morning an investigation into the matter found that the Saudi Arabian Airlines “inadvertently” cancelled the tickets.

“In the interim the Saudi Arabian Airlines and the umrah visa company in the Kingdom, have set up accommodation for the affected mutamireen at a hotel in Mecca…I want our listeners in Cape Town to know that the mutamireen are not being left on the street or to fend on their own. They are being taken care of until the matter is resolved,” Steenkamp explained.

The only next available flight is scheduled to depart on Friday. Steenkamp confirmed and reassured families back home in Cape Town that the mutamireen will be homebound by the end of the week.

More to follow…

VOC (Ra’eesah Isaacs)


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