Saudi Arabia completes its preparations to receive 2 million pilgrims

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim believers on Wednesday prayed in al-Haram mosque, while Saudi officials said that the authorities have prepared to receive some 2 million Muslims who will perform al-Haj rituals for this year.

The Saudi minister of al-Haj and Islamic trusts ( al-Awqaf) Eyad Bin Amin Madani said that preparation for al-Haj is a continued process and that the main aim of the Saudi authorities is to ensure that the pilgrim will enjoy calmness and to avail him/her the chance to be " with his Creator." He added that the authorities have allocated tens of thousands of fire-proof tents at" Mouna and Arafat " mountains and that the fire-fighting establishments are fully prepared.

In 1997 a fire broke in a camp for pilgrims in which 340 pilgrims were killed, 120 pilgrims were killed in 1998 because of crowded pilgrims.

However, no similar incidents were reported fir the past two years 1999, 2000.

Madani added he expects 1.5 million pilgrims to arrive from outside Saudi Arabia for this year besides the one million pilgrims from inside the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia has spent USD 200 million on safety measures arrangements during al-Haj rituals.

Officials statistics said that so far 1.3 million pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia during the past weeks. Saudi Arabia grants al-Haj visas according to agreed upon share and in order to avail the chance for pilgrims from outside the Kingdom to perform al-Haj, the Saudi authorities prevented residents in Saudi Arabia to go to al-Haj only once in five years.