217 haj pilgrims arrive from Jeddah, total 111 died so far

Srinagar, Dec 26 (UNI) As many as 217 Haj pilgrims from different parts of Jammu and Kashmir returned here today from Jeddah by a special flight after performing the pilgrimage.

Senior civil and police officials besides, Airport authority received the pilgrims at Srinagar's Sheikh-ul-Alam International Airport.

Yesterday 206 pilgrims. who had left here for Jeddah on November 11, returned here in the special flight.

According to officials, as many as 111 Haj pilgrims from India had died at the twin Islamic holy cities of Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia during the pilgrimage.

Majority of the pilgrims had died of cardiac arrest.

Of the dead pilgrims, six were from Jammu and Kashmir while 26 each from Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, eleven from Maharashtra, eight from Tamil Nadu, seven from Andhra Pradesh, six from Assam, five from West Bengal, three each from Karnataka, Bihar and Gujarat, two each from Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand and one each from Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, the officials said.

UNI