KARACHI: Six hundred and sixty-four Pakistani pilgrims, who were stranded for many hours in Iraq due to flight issues, returned on Saturday, according to a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Media footage showed pilgrims arriving at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport.

CAA spokesperson Saifullah told Dawn.com that an Iraqi Airways flight arrived with 358 pilgrims on early Saturday morning. Later, another flight from Iraq, which was supposed to land at Karachi at 2:20pm, landed at 5:20pm with 306 passengers on board, the CAA spokesperson added.

Thus, a total of 664 pilgrims arrived on the two flights.

FO blames ‘technical fault’ with two aircraft for the delay

The travellers had visited Iraq for Arbaeen — the Chehlum commemoration marking the 40th day of mourning for Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

More than 21 million devotees from across the world took part in the Arbaeen pilgrimage this year, which reached its peak on Sunday, with attendees displaying their support for Gaza.

Earlier, in a press release issued late on Friday night, the FO said Pakistani pilgrims were stranded at the Baghdad airport “because of technical fault with two aircraft of Iraq Airways”.

“The return of these zaireen (pilgrims) is expected to start tonight,” the FO said, adding that it expected all stranded passengers to return by Aug 31.

The affected travellers said they were not being informed about when or how they would be able to travel. “We have been sitting hungry and thirsty at the airport, and no one is addressing our concerns,” one pilgrim said.

The FO claimed that the foreign and aviation ministries and Pakistan’s embassy in Iraq were in contact with Iraqi authorities and Iraq Airways for early repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis.

Later, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar directed Pakistan’s Ambassador in Baghdad Hamid Abbas Lafta to “look after the stranded Pakistanis and to facilitate their early return”, the FO statement claimed.

It added that the embassy provided meals and “facilitated their temporary stay” in Baghdad.

Buses carrying Pakistani pilgrims have seen multiple accidents in Iran and Pakistan in the past weeks, resulting in at least 42 deaths.

At least three were killed and 48 injured in a bus-truck collision near Iran’s Neyriz city on Sunday night, days after another crash in Yazd city killed 28 people and wounded 23.

A bus accident on Pakistan’s Makran coastal highway on Sunday had also claimed the lives of at least 11 people and injured 35.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2024