KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the recent reports over the weekend of four Malaysian citizens' deaths in Saudi Arabia, the country has reported that 70 percent of those scheduled to go on Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage, have left the country. A total of 19,764 people out of the 28,000, or 72 percent, of the Malaysians due to perform the Hajj pilgrimage this year have already arrived in Saudi Arabia. Tabung Haji's (Pilgrims Fund) public affairs and corporate communications manager, Mohamad Naser Jaffar said of the figure, 17,915 pilgrims were in Mecca while the rest were still in Medina and would be leaving for Mecca Monday. “After this, all Haj flights from Malaysia will land at the Haj Flight Terminal in Jeddah and the pilgrims will go to Mecca directly from there,” he told Malaysian reporters at Tabung Haji's operation center on Sunday. Jaffar said so far, 58 out of a total of 77 flights had brought Malaysian pilgrims to the Holy Land. The first flight departed on September 17. Four Malaysians were buried on Saturday in the Saudi holy city of Medina after suffering heart attacks and succumbing to the conditions during their Hajj pilgrimage to the Gulf Kingdom. Tabung Haji's operations information center manager Shafie Sharif said the four pilgrims died in Medina “due to their frail condition and heart attacks and that their remains were buried at the Baqi cemetery near the Nabawi Mosque in Medina." He said the center, which operates from the Janadiriah Hotel here, had relayed news of the deaths to family members in Malaysia. “The burial arrangements were made by Tabung Haji," he told Malaysian reporters here Saturday. Shafie said 74 haj pilgrims died in the Holy Land last year. Malaysians are demanding that the government ensure that those participating in the Hajj are well-equipped and can handle the Saudi conditions. “It should not happen. Plain and simple. If someone is not in good enough health to perform the pilgrimage they should not go," said Anwar Aziz, a 28-year-old advertising consultant in Kuala Lumpur. He told Bikyamasr.com he is due to leave for Saudi on Monday to perform his Hajj.
