Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, has sought within a week a report on the problems faced by Egyptian Umrah pilgrims, who were stranded at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah for three days because of flight delays at the end Ramadan. Chairing a meeting at his office here Saturday, he stressed that the report should give a detailed account of the reasons which led to the problems. He also sought suggestions to avoid future recurrence of such problems. The Emir emphasized the importance of the improvement of services, especially the ones relating to pilgrims in view of the increasing number of Umrah visitors. He called for doubling of the efforts by all agencies involved in the Haj and Umrah services. More than 4,500 Egyptian pilgrims were stranded at Jeddah's airport as their flights experienced delay up to three days. This led to extreme chaos as angry pilgrims destroyed airport facilities and attacked Saudia staff. Saudi Ambassador in Cairo Ahmed Qatan was earlier quoted as saying that the main reason for the delays was the fact that the Saudi Airlines carousel at Jeddah airport had malfunctioned. “The allegations that Egyptians got inhuman treatment in Saudi Arabia are baseless and a bid to drive a wedge between the Egyptian and Saudi peoples,” added Qatan. He stressed that the Saudi Embassy in Cairo issued visas for 22,000 Egyptians. Egypt's Consul in Jeddah Maher El-Mahdy said the crisis was solved in cooperation with Saudi Arabia and 42 airplanes were assigned to transport Egyptian pilgrims back to Cairo and Alexandria within 48 hours. __
