Hundreds of Indian Haj pilgrims stranded

Dubai: Hundreds of Indian Haj pilgrims have been stranded mostly in Madina because of cancelled flights but most of them have now flown back home.

The return flight of thousands of Indian Haj pilgrims was hit by some technical glitch which led the pilgrims being stranded, Indian Consul General Sayeed Ahmad Baba told the Arab News today.

''The backlog of stranded pilgrims has almost been cleared,'' Mr Baba said, adding that as of Friday (December 3) 184 flights had departed from Jeddah and Madinah carrying 49,402 pilgrims.

He said the number of remaining pilgrims in Makkah stands at 53,649 and in Madinah 22,848.

He also added that the Indian mission had launched a 24-hour helpline at its Makkah office to assist pilgrims.

A total 170,491 Indian pilgrims performed Haj this year, out of which 125,000 came through the Haj Committee of India, while 45,491 pilgrims came through private tour operators.