Hajj: 2 more pilgrims die

THE death toll of Nige­ria pilgrims taking part in this year’s Hajj exercise in Saudi Arabia has increased to 22 as two more pilgrims from Bauchi State have died in the Holy Land.
Addressing newsmen in Makkah on Monday, Ex­ecutive Secretary of Bau­chi State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Alhaji Isi­yaku Suleman, disclosed that the dead, a man and a woman, died as a result of malaria and asthma attack.
Suleman said the man died in Medina, while the woman died in Makkah.
He added that the de­ceased were from Ningi and Toro Local Govern­ment Areas of the state re­spectively.

He, however, said that the respective families of the deceased have
been informed of the unfortunate death of the pilgrims.
The National Hajj Com­mission of Nigeria (NAH­CON) had on Monday declared that so far 20 Ni­gerian pilgrims have died in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the 2015 Hajj exercise.
NAHCON chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Mukhtar, who disclosed this at a pre-Arafat stakeholders meeting at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, informed that out of the number, 14 died due to cardiac arrest and other ailments.
Meanwhile, Bauchi State Governor Moham­med Abubakar has con­doled with the families of pilgrims that lost their lives in this year’s Hajj exercise in Saudi Arabia and prayed Allah to forgive them and accept their souls.
Condoling with loved ones, Abubakar yester­day in his message on the Eid-el Kabir saying “We give thanks to Almighty Allah for making it pos­sible for us to witness yet another Eid-el-Kabir and pray Him to pardon those that have been fell by life’s irreducible denominator, death and are no longer with us.
“Among these are our brothers and sisters, who died in the Holy Land as a result of the crane accident and other causes”
Abubakar enjoined citi­zens of the state to always live in peace with one an­other irrespective of reli­gious and ethnic differenc­es as Muslims the world over this year Eid-el Kabir.