Rashidul Hasan, Dhaka: All Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims are set to reach Saudi Arabia today. Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Flynas have already carried all their passengers to the country.
Saudia, the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, will operate its final pre-hajj flights today from Dhaka, AKM Mahfuzul Alam, senior manager of sales at Saudia, told The Daily Star.
On Sunday, Biman met its quota of carrying 29,992 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, said Tahera Khondoker, Biman’s general manager (public relations).
Flynas has also met its quota of carrying 6,086 pilgrims, sources said.
Saudia will meet its quota of carrying 23,922 pilgrims today, Mahfuzul said.
A total of 60,000 people will perform hajj this year from Bangladesh. Of them, Biman was set to carry almost half of them, and Saudia and Flynas the rest.
According to a bulletin of the religious affairs ministry’s hajj management portal, 56,952 pilgrims have reached Saudi Arabia as of yesterday.
Biman Managing Director and CEO Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal told The Daily Star that the airline has safely taken 29,992 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year.
Hajj flights of this year started on June 5. Post-hajj flights from Saudi Arabia will start from July 14.
This year, hajj will be held on July 8.
In 2019, around 1.27 lakh Bangladeshis were allowed to perform hajj. However, due to the pandemic, the annual congregation was held on a limited scale in the last two years.
12 PILGRIMS DIED SO FAR
Three more Bangladeshi pilgrims, two men and a woman, have died in Saudi Arabia.
The deceased are Khaybar Hossain (55), Layla Akter (52) and Tapan khandoker (62), according to the hajj management portal.
Including the three, 12 pilgrims have died this year.
Khaybar died on Sunday, while Layla and Tapan passed away on July 1.
