60,000 Hajj pilgrims airlifted to Saudi Arabia
By Hina Kiyani

ISLAMABAD—More than 60,000 intending Hajj pilgrims have so far been dispatched by 175 flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Hajj since start of pre-Hajj operation from November 14.
According to Joint Secretary Hajj, Muhammad Sarwar, so far, 10 Pakistani pilgrims have died owing to natural causes and buried inthe Holy Land.
He said the relatives of the deceased pilgrims have timelybeen informed through telephone and letters. The Joint Secretary informed that, out of the pilgrims who reached Saudi Arabia, 13,747 have been sent to Madina by road. He said that Director General Hajj, Makkah, Shahid Khan issupervising overall Hajj operation in Saudi Arabia and he is lookingafter all the pilgrims.
Giving details, he said a total of 502 flights will beoperated to ferry 160,000 Pakistani pilgrims to Saudi Arabia out of which PIA would operate 336 flights to airlift 124,050 pilgrims.
The remaining pilgrims will be airlifted by Saudi and Gulf airlines, he added.
As many as 102 flights will be operated from Karachi, 83 from Lahore, 78 from Islamabad, 124 from Peshawar, 57 from Quetta, 34 from Multan, 20 from Faisalabad and 4 from Sukkur.
About deployment of Seasonal Staff, Khuddam ul Hajjaj andMedical Mission, the sources said out of 250 Seasonal Staff, 170have reached and deployed to facilitate the intending pilgrims.
The Medical Mission would comprise of 260 doctors andparamedics and so far 198 have reached the Holy land.
Out of 230 Khuddam ul Hajjaj, 164 have been airlifted to Saudi Arabia while 250 local khuddam have also been deputed to assist the Pakistani pilgrims in Makkah and Madina.
The Medical Mission has provided outdoor medical treatment to 13,067 pilgrims out of which 18 were admitted in Mission Hospital and Saudi Hospitals. He said the pre-Hajj operation will conclude on December 14 with departure of last Hajj flight from the Federal Capital.