A Civil Defense helicopter hovers above the Arafat Plain during last year's Haj. — Archives Okaz/Saudi Gazette TAIF — State of the art helicopters will help ensure the safety of pilgrims during this year's Haj. The helicopters which took off from King Fahd Airbase in Taif on Friday will monitor pilgrim flow and be ready to evacuate any injured pilgrims. “Air surveillance over the holy sites will be round-the-clock and will monitor the movement of pilgrims and ensure the smooth flow of traffic,” said Maj. Gen. Muhammad Bin Eid Al-Harbi, Head of aviation security. “The aircraft logged record flight hours during the flood crisis in Jeddah proving they can deal with the most difficult of situations,” he added. Al-Harbi said during last Ramadan the aircraft successfully relayed photographs of the Umrah pilgrims from Makkah to the operations room of the general security in Mina. “This experiment will be repeated during the Haj seasons,” he said. Under the security plans aircraft will relay photographs of pilgrims to a general security operations room in Mina. It is hoped that this could prevent a repeat of the 2006 crush when at least 350 pilgrims died. Many of the 19 aircraft have facilities like monitoring of ECG and artificial breathing apparatus. They are also being manned by doctors and nurses who will provide first aid to sick pilgrims until they are transported to hospitals, he said. Maj. Pilot Abdullah Bin Muhammad Homan Al-Qarni, Assistant Commander of King Fahd Airbase, said the aim was to provide security by countering any hazards that might affect pilgrims from the moment of their arrival, the performance of Haj rites until their departure from the holy sites. __
