Mangalore, Aug 30: Around 130 Haj pilgrims from various parts of coastal Karnataka were stranded in the city after their flight was cancelled all of a sudden on Saturday.
The fourth batch of pilgrims was ready at Mangalore International Airport early in the morning. They were supposed to board an Air India Express flight at 10.45 a.m.
Sources said that at around 10:40 a.m. the pilgrims were informed that the flight would be delayed for a couple of hours due to due to some technical reasons.
However, even after waiting for two more hours the flight which was supposed to take then to Madinah did not even arrive.
The sudden and unexpected cancellation of the flight caught the pilgrims unaware. Hundreds of family members of pilgrims also had come to Airport to bid them adieu. Finally it was announced that Saturday's flight was postponed to Sunday.
Airport Director J T Radhakrishn told Coastaldigest.com that Air India Express authorities have promised take care of the stranded pilgrims till their departure. He said that the pilgrims were shifted to a hotel in the afternoon.
Mr Radhakrishna said that three batches of Haj pilgrims have already flown from Mangalore to Saudi Arabia in last three days. “I was informed by the Air India Express that fourth (today's batch) and fifth batch fly on Sunday,” he said.
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