Many Moroccan pilgrims faced a nightmare during the Day of Tarwiyah in Mina as they were forced to sleep on the ground under the scorching sun due to a shortage of tents. This caused outrage and confusion among the pilgrims, who had paid for proper accommodations.
The blame falls on a Saudi company entrusted with providing housing for pilgrims in Mina. The company failed to deliver the promised tents, leaving Moroccan travel agencies scrambling for solutions.
The Saudi Ministry of Hajj was notified, but the issue remained unresolved.
“When we came to house the pilgrims in Mina, we did not find the tents, and we contacted the Saudi Ministry of Hajj, and they promised to find a solution, but the problem was not resolved, and people were forced to sleep on the ground,” the manager of a travel agency in Saudi Arabia told Hespress Ar.
Travel agency representatives described the situation as catastrophic. Not only were pilgrims left exposed to the elements, but the disarray also made it difficult for agencies to manage their groups.
“Because of the dispersion of the pilgrims as each one was looking for a shady place to shelter, which made our organization mission difficult,” said the manager.
For his part, the manager of a travel agency in Agadir said that Moroccan travel agencies had contracted with the Saudi company, through the confederation representing it, in the first contract of its kind, on the basis that it would provide everything related to housing and feeding the pilgrims, in Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat.
“We were surprised when we arrived in Mina to find that there were no tents,” said the Moroccan travel agency manager.
The same speaker said that the failure to provide tents for the pilgrims as agreed upon with the contracted company caused confusion among the pilgrims, who crowded into the few tents available, while those who did not find a place were left “lying in the street.”
Adding to the frustration, both private and government-organized pilgrimages seem to be affected as both entities contracted with the same Saudi company.
With scorching temperatures and religious customs requiring privacy for changing out of Ihram garments, worries also mounted about a potential health and safety crisis.
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