…as last batch of Kwaran pilgrims arrive Ilorin Saturday
Seventy thousand four hundred and ninety five (70,495) Nigerian pilgrims have so far been airlifted to Nigeria from Saudi Arabia with a record of 177 flights, even as the last batch of Kwaran pilgrims arrive Ilorin, the state capital, today (July 29, 2023).
The AERO flight NIG9091 today Saturday departed Jeddah to Yola at 20:39hrs with 456 Taraba Pilgrims and 3 Officials, making the tTotalaAirliftsto be 70,495 with tTotalfFlightsof 177 since the beginning of the homeward journey after the completion of the 1444AH Hajj exercise.
However, all the 3,550 pilgrims from Kwara State who performed this year’s hajj in Saudi Arabia have returned home, except a male pilgrim who died during the Hajj operations in Saudi.
The last batch of Kwaran pilgrims arrived at the Ilorin International Airport at 9 o clock local time on Saturday (July 29, 2023).
The aircraft that transported the remaining 272 Kwara’s pilgrims departed Jeddah International Airport in Saudi Arabia at about half past two in the early hours of Saturday.
The Executive Secretary of Kwara State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji AbdulSalam AbdulKadir who arrived alongside others, said 272 pilgrims were on board the aircraft.
He, however, confirmed that the state recorded one death by name Alhaji Busari Alao from Ilorin who was in his seventies out of the pilgrims that travelled through the board.
He prayed Allah to be pleased with the soul of the deceased and others that lost their lives during and after the exercise and grant their families the fortitude to bear the loss.
