CAIRO: Egyptians returning from pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia faced "deliberate humiliation" at the Jeddah Airport, Basma Elkiki, who was stranded at the airport, told Daily News Egypt.
"Saudi authorities [did] this to Egyptians only…all people from different nationalities boarded without any trouble," said Elkiki, one of thousands of Egyptians stranded at the airport this week.
The Cabinet said Thursday that the crisis, which lasted most of the week, was resolved. The holy month of Ramadan is a preferred time for performing the minor pilgrimage, umrah.
Elkiki’s flight from Jeddah was scheduled for 12:15 am on Wednesday, but by the time they took off, it was 3:30 pm.
"I arrived at the Jeddah Airport four hours early (8:40 pm). It took us five hours to enter the airport (1:30 am), and four and a half hours to weigh our luggage (6 am), and then five more hours to check out (11 am). We boarded the airplane at 3:30 pm," Elkiki explained.
"Pilots of our EgyptAir flight [said] the plane was at the airport at 6 am, but Saudi authorities did not allow them to take people until 3 pm," Elkiki added.
According to Elkiki, EgyptAir pilots told them that there were more than 10 planes waiting to take Egyptians home, but none of those flights were allowed to take off on time.
"The Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah managed to solve the problem of thousands of Egyptians who were late to arrive to Egypt as tens of thousands of travelers from different nationalities were stuck at the Jeddah Airport, trying to return to their countries before the start of Eid El-Fitr," spokesperson of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amr Roushdy said in a statement.
“The Saudi Embassy only gave visas to 22,000 Egyptians in Ramadan, while [the number of] Egyptian citizens coming back to Egypt after Ramadan reached 600,000," Saudi Ambassador in Egypt, Ahmed Kattan, told Egyptian state TV on Thursday.
"Egyptians working in the Kingdom who wish to return to Egypt for Eid vacation represent only a few thousand of those 600,000 Egyptians, which means that these huge numbers remained in Saudi after performing umrah before Ramdan and did not confirm their booking on time but wished to board the planes randomly," the ambassador added.
Kattan said similar crises occurred in previous years with Egyptians who did not return home after completing umrah before Ramadan, because they wanted to spend Ramadan in Saudi and go home for Eid.
The spokesperson of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo was not available for comment at press time on Thursday.
"A special committee formed by the Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah was present in Jeddah Airport to facilitate travel procedures in accordance with Saudi authorities," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.
Roushdy said that nine airplanes were scheduled to take Egyptian travelers home, five to Cairo Airport and four to Alexandria’s Borg El-Arab Airport.
However, Elkiki said, "We did not see any representative from the Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah, only one representative from EgyptAir one hour before our plane took off.
"While we were waiting for our plane, a Saudi official came and cursed us saying that we harmed the image of Saudi, but Egyptians who felt the humiliation for more than 14 hours beat him up," Elkiki added.
Elkiki said she has photos and videos of what happened, although the airport authority warned her against using her camera. "It is not about having a president to protect Egypt, Egypt has it people to defend its dignity," Elkiki said.
Kattan refuted claims that the crisis was deliberate or a way of “avenging putting Mubarak on trial.”
Saudi, which gave refuge to ousted Tunisian president Zein Al-Abedine Ben Ali, is often blamed for trying to throw Egypt’s January 25 Revolution off course.
Kattan, who dismissed such claims as an attempt to drive a wedge between Egyptians and Saudis, attributed the crisis also to excess luggage, which led airport authorities to defer luggage to other flights.
Moreover, the confusion of starting Eid El-Fitr on Tuesday instead of Wednesday as expected augmented the problem, he said.
The Egyptian official news agency MENA said 5,000 pilgrims arrived at the Nuweiba seaport. The port authority allocated a storage area specifically for luggage arriving late to make it easier for pilgrims to reclaim them.
MENA reported that some Egyptians were referred to the Jeddah hospital with no serious cases. The Egyptian government is following up on their condition, especially the elderly, it added.
