Nearly 300 Nigerian pilgrims were stranded for nearly 24 hours at the King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah over reported failure of Aero Contractors airline to evacuate them.
A 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE correspondent in Makkah said the pilgrims who participated in the 2024 Hajj travelled to the holy land under the tour operators qouta.
One of the stranded pilgrims, who sought anonymity said, there were over 300 Nigerian pilgrims billed to travel back to Abuja via Aero Contractors, on Saturday night.
A ticket of one of the pilgrims sighted by one of our correspondents showed that the flight back to Nigeria was scheduled for June 22 at 23:59 hours.
However, when over 100 of the pilgrims thronged the King Abdulaziz International Airport on Saturday evening preparatory to their flight, they were shocked to be told by airport officials that their flight Number 6112 was not scheduled.
Worst still, it was gathered, there was an initial confusion of which terminal the pilgrims were to board from. While some tour operators told their clients among the pilgrims to go to the North Terminal, others were told to be at the Hajj Terminal wing of the airport.
The pilgrims, it was further gathered, spent hours between 7 pm on Saturday and 2 am on Sunday trying to locate the right place for boarding and take off.
Amidst the confusion, the pilgrims were later faced with the reality of not having their flight scheduled for a return to Abuja.
Another pilgrim told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE that they made efforts to contact their tour operators to get the correct information, but the operators were either not reachable or did not answer their calls.
Later in the night, the pilgrims were told the flight was changed to Number 2136 and that it would take off at about 8 am on Sunday.
Some of the pilgrims were compelled to pass the night at the airport amidst harassment and threats of being returned to Makkah by the Saudi airport security personnel.
At about 7 am on Sunday, the pilgrims were told the new flight would take off to Abuja at 10 am, but that was not to be. It took the efforts of one of the officials of the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, who collected the passports of the pilgrims present to get them boarding pass.
At about 10 am, the pilgrims were called to start check in, after which they went through the necessary screening only to be kept at the departure lounge since 11 am up to the time of filing this report.
Another dimension was added to the confusion when one of the pilgrims told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE that a majority of the pilgrims billed to travel with the flight did not get their passports back from their agents in Makkah.
The practice is that as soon as pilgrims arrive in Makkah, their agents would seize their passports and only return them on the day of their trip back to Nigeria after securing flight tickets.
Despite the fact that the Nigerian pilgrims got their tickets, retrieving the passports from their agents became a Herculean task since Saturday night up to Sunday afternoon.
As at 4:15 pm Saudi Arabian time and 2:15 pm Nigerian time – the pilgrims were still at the airport.
A media consultant to Aero Contractors, Mr Simon Tumba, didn’t answer his calls when one of our reporters called to obtain comments for the story.
The spokesperson of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Fatima Sanda Usara, in a telephone exchanges with our correspondent in Makkah, blamed the pilgrims for going to the airport ahead of their flight day.
She told this newspaper in a WhatsApp message that the tour operators flight was scheduled for Sunday, not Saturday.
Mrs Usara said, “… their flight is scheduled for today (Sunday) not yesterday (Saturday). As at yesterday they were screening pilgrims luggage in preparation for today’s flight pls.”
