Hyderabad, June 22: Six Hajj pilgrims from Telangana are among 98 Indians who have lost their lives during the pilgrimage this year. More than 900 pilgrims from various countries passed away during Hajj this year. The searing heat and intense high temperatures is reported to have contributed to the majority of the deaths.
According to the Telangana State Hajj Committee officials, two pilgrims each from Sangareddy and Rangareddy districts and one each from Nizamabad and Hyderabad passed away during Hajj.
Four of the six pilgrims passed away due to cardiac arrest. The first of the deaths was reported on May 25, and the latest was reported on June 18.
Two of them passed away while performing Hajj rituals in Mina and Jamarat.
On June 18, Mohammed Abdul Raheem Asif (55) of Hyderabad passed away due to cardiac arrest at Jamarat.
Mohammed Abdul Waheed (50) from Sangareddy district passed away in Mina on June 16. The same day Surayya Yasmeen (60), also from Sangareddy, breathed her last in Madina.
Mohammed Tajuddin (69) from Rangareddy district succumbed to cardiac arrest in Makkah on June 14.
Ilyas Mohammed (61), also from Rangareddy district, passed away due to heart attack in Makkah on June 11.
Farhat Ali Meer (66) from Nizamabad district also succumbed to cardiac arrest in Madina on May 24.
Meanwhile, the pilgrims, who had left from Hyderabad embarkation point, will start returning from June 23. They will return from Jeddah by 36 special flights of Saudi Airlines.
The first flight is scheduled to land in Hyderabad at 11.25 a.m. on June 23 while the last batch of pilgrims will arrive on July 8. Three to four batches are likely to arrive in a single day.
A total of 11,572 pilgrims from 17 states had left from Hyderabad embarkation point. They all had left for Madina but will be returning to Hyderabad from Jeddah. At least 100 pilgrims selected from waiting list had left from Chennai. Thus, a total of 11,672 pilgrims had gone through the Telangana Hajj Committee.
The pilgrims included 8,296 from Telangana, 1096 from Andhra Pradesh, 1045 from Karnataka, 739 from Maharashtra, 125 from Odisha and 93 from Bihar. According to Hajj Committee, 54 pilgrims from Chhattisgarh, 12 from Madhya Pradesh, 9 from Tamil Nadu, 9 from Gujarat, 8 from Uttar Pradesh, 7 from Delhi, 7 from Jharkhand, 6 from West Bengal, 4 from Assam, 3 from Goa and 1 from Jammu and Kashmir had also departed from Hyderabad.
