Last haj pilgrims arrive

Last haj pilgrims arrive

JAKARTA: Indonesia's last haj pilgrimage flight for this year
landed on Friday at Hasanuddin airport in Makassar, South
Sulawesi.

The haj pilgrims were greeted by the Ministry of Religious
Affairs' secretary-general, Faisal Ismail, and South Sulawesi
Governor Amin Syam, the ministry's official website
informasihaji.com reported.

Earlier in the day, 308 pilgrims also arrived at the airport.
The pilgrims came from Makassar and the regencies of Pinrang,
Jeneponto, Sinjai, Bantaeng, Pol Mas, Sopeng, Sidrap, Wajo, North
Luwu, Luwu, Palopo and Takalar. Some of the pilgrims were also
from North Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.

Also arriving home on Friday were the last batches from
Jakarta, Surakarta in Central Java and Medan in North Sumatra.

This year's haj pilgrimage was marred by a stampede that
killed 57 Indonesians on Feb. 1. A total of 516 out of around
205,000 Indonesian pilgrims died while performing the pilgrimage
this year. -- JP