Abdullah Al-Siqair and Ibrahim Khudair Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH/MAKKAH — Two batches of sea pilgrims from Sudan arrived Wednesday at Jeddah Islamic Port on two ships from the Red Sea port of Sawakin. The ships, Nur and Mawadah, carried 800 and 1,110 pilgrims respectively. Another two batches consisting of 959 Sudanese sea pilgrims had arrived a day earlier. The Sudanese pilgrims were received on arrival by the seaport's director of the Haj service department Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Adwani, Sudan's Consul General in Jeddah Khaled Mahmoud Mohammed and a number of other officials. After a short stay at the arrival lounge during which they completed their immigration procedures, the pilgrims were taken by buses to Madinah where they will pay homage to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and pray at his mosque. Al-Adwani said all concerned government departments in the seaport have mobilized all their resources to provide excellent services to pilgrims to enable them to perform the fifth pillar of Islam in ease and comfort. The consul general commended the facilities and services being provided to the pilgrims by the Saudi government under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman. "The pilgrims are provided with excellent services the moment they set foot on this holy land," he said. Meanwhile, the first batch of Iranian pilgrims, consisting of 460 men and women, arrived at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah on Wednesday. They were received by chairman of the Tawafa establishment for Iranian pilgrims Talal Bin Saleh Qutub, head of the Iranian pilgrims' affairs office Ghulam Radaie and other officials. Qutub also praised the services and facilities being provided to the pilgrims. He said a large number of development projects have been completed in Makkah, Madinah and the holy sites for pilgrims and visitors. Radaie praised the welcome given to Iranian pilgrims and said nobody could criticize the services being provided by the Saudi government to the pilgrims. More than 61,000 pilgrims from Iran will perform Haj this year.
