Many pilgrims arrive home without luggage

Many pilgrims arrive home without luggage

JAKARTA (JP): Many haj pilgrims returned home from Saudi
Arabia yesterday only to learn that their luggage was missing.

Similar incidents also marred the return of the first
Indonesian pilgrims at Halim Perdana Kusumah airport and five
other airports in the country on April 23.

In many cases, the planes carried luggage belonging to
pilgrims from other flights.

This was the case with at least 25 of the 53 flights bringing
home pilgrims yesterday, according to data from the committee to
oversee the returning pilgrims.

Some of the luggage taken to the Pondok Gede haj dormitory in
East Jakarta belonged to pilgrims bound for Ujungpandang and
Surabaya, a committee official said.

Indonesia's 200,000 pilgrims are divided into 470 flights of
up to 500 passengers. Besides Jakarta, pilgrims are also flown to
Surakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Balikpapan and Ujungpandang.

The last pilgrims are scheduled to arrive on May 19.

For many pilgrims, the confusion about the whereabouts of
their luggage came on top of long delays they had to endure
waiting for their flight home.

Officials blamed the chaos on the new city check-in facility
for pilgrims in Jeddah. Under the new system, intended to
facilitate their return, luggage is collected and checked-in at
their accommodation, sparing pilgrims the need to carry it
themselves to the airport.

Arif Bahtiar, an official of the committee overseeing
pilgrims' return, blamed Garuda Indonesia for the chaos. "Garuda
has not given any official explanation on what caused it," he
said.

But Garuda, the sole carrier for the haj pilgrimage, said
pilgrims must share the blame because many of them were carrying
luggage exceeding the 30 kilogram limit.

Arif Hartanto, Garuda vice president for business relations,
said airline staff at Jeddah's King Abdul Azis airport were
forced to seize excess cabin luggage for safety reasons.

"Safety is our first priority," he said.

Yesterday, about 1,200 bags and bottles containing zam-zam
water (collected from wells near the Kabah) remained uncollected
at Building III of the haj dormitory.

An official in charge of the unclaimed luggage said 1,200
people had already claimed their bags.

Muhtar, a resident from Serang, said he had been to the haj
dormitory three times to look for the luggage of his parents, who
arrived Thursday. He had collected two of their three suitcases.

Many pilgrims entrust someone else to find their luggage, like
Dahlan, who acted on behalf of 19 pilgrims who arrived Monday.
Dahlan said he was yet to find three more suitcases, and planned
to return the next day.

Meanwhile, 47 more Indonesian pilgrims have died, bringing the
death toll to 606 people yesterday, the Ministry of Religious
Affairs said.

The figure exceeds last year's record 570 people. The two main
causes of deaths are heart and lung disease, officials said. (11)