Five Nigerian pilgrims performing this year’s Hajj in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, have lost their lives.
Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Abdullahi Mohammed announced the death of four of the pilgrims on Tuesday in Makkah, Islam’s holiest city.
Mohammed, who spoke at the 2017 pre-Arafat meeting with Hajj stakeholders, however did not disclose the identities of the late pilgrims as well as the circumstances that led to their death.
He said such information could only be disclosed after their families had been appropriately informed.
He then pleaded with the media to withhold the details so as not to further devastate the families of the affected pilgrims.
DAILY POST gathered that shortly after the chairman spoke, an official on the medical team of NAHCON announced the passage of another pilgrim from Kwara State.
A total of 81,200 Nigerian pilgrims are performing this year’s hajj, all of whom have converged on Makkah after some of them visited and prayed at the Prophet Mohammed’s mosque in Madinah.
A few other pilgrims came directly to Makkah after flying into Saudi Arabia through the nearby city of Jeddah.
All the pilgrims have performed the rites of Umrah, the lesser hajj, at al-Masjid al-Haram, which is situated the Kabah.
Comentários