Govt to evacuate pilgrims if Iraq war breaks out
The government has a contingency plan to evacuate its pilgrims from Mecca if war breaks out in Iraq, a minister said today.
This would include increasing the number of flights to bring them home quickly, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.
The last flight ferrying the pilgrims home is scheduled for March 17.
The government has a contingency plan to evacuate its pilgrims from Mecca if war breaks out in Iraq, a minister said today.
This would include increasing the number of flights to bring them home quickly, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.
The last flight ferrying the pilgrims home is scheduled for March 17.
"Besides increasing the number of flights, we are also looking into the possibility of using seagoing vessels. However, we hoped that there'll be no war," he told a news conference at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport after returning from Mecca.
Official Saudi figures indicate 1.431 million pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia performed the haj this year.
An estimated 23,000 Malaysians are performing the haj this year, Mohamad Rafidi Ibrahim, spokesman for the Pilgrims' Fund Board of Malaysia, told AFP .
The first batch returned to Malaysia on Feb 17. AFP
