More than 4,000 Malaysian haj pilgrims are now in Medina and as of today, they are reported to be in good condition, said the Medina operations director for the 1436H haj operations, Mohd Zawawi Bostam.

He said 4,446 Malaysian haj pilgrims were now in Medina and staying in three hotels namely Hotel MovenPick, Hotel Al-Saha and Hotel Al-Haram, since the first flight KT1 on Aug 16.

“The number does not include two more groups who are scheduled to arrive today via flights KT14 from Alor Setar (279 pilgrims) at 4.15pm (9.14pm Malaysian time) and KT15 from Johor Baru (279 pilgrims) at 8.30pm (1.30am on Aug 21, Malaysian time),” he told reporters in Medina today.

Mohd Zawawi said the last flight carrying pilgrims directly to Medina was scheduled to arrive on Aug 30 (at 1.15am local time).

He said pilgrims who were already at the Holy Land had followed the programmes organised by the Tabung Haji (TH) such as visiting the Nabawi Mosque, visiting historical places in Medina and listening to religious ceramah and counselling.

The Malaysian haj pilgrims were scheduled to go to Makkah in stages from Aug 24 by bus, with the last group scheduled to arrive on Sept 7.

Overall, he said, 11,088 haj pilgrims would be in Medina on 32 flights while another 32 flights were scheduled to arrive directly in Jeddah.

This year, 22,320 Malaysian haj pilgrims would be flown by Malaysia Airlines and Saudi Airlines.

- Bernama