AlHijjah 10, 1433, Oct 26, 2012, SPA -- Major General Mansour Al-Turki, Security Spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, announced that the mission of ascending more than 3,160,000 to Arafat, the peak of Hajj, has successfully been done yesterday. In his third daily briefing, held in Mina today, Al-Turki said 15% of pilgrims who opted to leave Mina for Arafat one day before schedule were ascended smoothly as the roads were free on that day. He said more than the expected 24% of pilgrims were picked by Al-Mashaer train from Mina to Arafat in record time. The rest opted to go on foot, availing the good climate and moderate temperature in Hajj areas, he said. However, some pilgrims came directly from Makkah heading for Arafat and were assisted by support transport forces to reach on time. Al-Turki said all transport capabilities in Arafat were efficiently used to help pilgrims move down the valley to Muzdalifah after having attended Arafat yesterday. Given the limited time from sunset to mid-night and the limited space for vehicles, the movement was relatively done smoothly and easily without delay or major incidents, Al-Turki said, adding that, a big number of pilgrims also opted to cut the distance of few kilometers on foot to stay the night in Muzdalifah, he added. --More
