Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly ordered on Saturday to withdraw the licenses of 16 tourism companies and refer their officials to the Public Prosecution on charges of “deception” to deport pilgrims illegally, according to the Council of Ministers.
The Council stated in a statement that, “Initially, 16 tourism companies were monitored that defrauded and deported pilgrims illegally, and did not provide any services to pilgrims. Hence, the Prime Minister was instructed to quickly withdraw the licenses of these companies, refer those responsible to the Public Prosecution, and fine these companies.” Companies for the benefit of the families of pilgrims who caused their deaths.”
The Cabinet statement indicated that the total number of the Egyptian official delegation exceeds 50,000 pilgrims, including “31 deaths as a result of chronic diseases.”
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims perform the Hajj rituals in Mecca after obtaining the necessary permits for that, especially since each country has a specific quota for the number of its pilgrims.
But because many of them may not be accepted with the high costs of travel and reservations, thousands of pilgrims perform their rituals every year without permits, depriving them of access to the air-conditioned spaces that the Saudi authorities have provided for the 1.8 million pilgrims who hold permits this year.
According to a tally collected by Agence France-Presse from the authorities of the concerned countries and diplomats on Friday, the number of pilgrim deaths this year reached 1,126, more than half of whom were from Egypt, and large numbers of deaths were attributed to the extreme heat.
A Saudi official told the agency on Friday, “We estimate the number of irregular pilgrims at about 400,000 people, the vast majority of whom are of one nationality.”
On Thursday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi ordered “the formation of a crisis cell” headed by Madbouly, “to follow up and manage the situation regarding the deaths of Egyptian pilgrims.”
In this regard, the Cabinet statement on Saturday stated that the report issued by the formed Crisis Management Committee was presented, which indicated that “the reasons for the increase in deaths of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims are due to some tourism companies organizing Hajj programs with a personal visit visa, which prevents its holders from entering.” Mecca”.
The statement continued, “This is circumvented by evading desert paths on foot, without providing adequate accommodation, causing unregistered pilgrims to be exposed to stress as a result of high temperatures.”
