Rano Karno's story returning to Umrah in the middle of the Iran War: There are Doha residents who take a Rp28 million taxi to Riyadh to fly to Jakarta

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Rano Karno told a unique experience he encountered when he returned to Indonesia after performing the umrah. He admitted that he met a passenger who had to take an expensive land journey from Doha to Riyadh in order to fly back to Jakarta.

"In fact, there was one person from Doha who took a taxi to Riyadh, the cost of the taxi was almost 28 million, then he took a Garuda plane," said Rano at the DKI Jakarta City Hall, Thursday, March 5.

Rano explained that this condition occurred because some flights using transit routes in a number of Middle Eastern countries were affected by the conflict situation in the region.

As a result, tens of thousands of Indonesian pilgrims were stuck because they could not continue their journey home.

"This is what made yesterday, maybe more than 38,000 of our pilgrims who could not return waiting," said Rano.

Even so, he ensured that direct flights from Saudi Arabia to Jakarta were still running normally and were not affected. According to Rano, there are currently several airlines that serve direct flights from Saudi Arabia to Jakarta.

"Well, thank God, if for those who go directly to Jakarta, there are three planes. The first is Saudi Arabia, which is direct, then the second is Lion Air, which is direct, and the last is Garuda," he said.

Rano added that until now the conditions in Mecca and Medina are relatively safe although the conflict situation in the Middle East region is still developing.

"It means that hopefully there has been no change even though I follow the news there day by day, but God willing, Mecca, Medina are relatively safe and there are no problems," he said.

He hopes that the conflict that has occurred can end immediately so that it does not have a wider impact, including on the journey of Muslim worship.

"But hopefully for the next time we pray that the battle that is happening can be quickly completed," he added.