PPIH Still Looking For Hajj From Palembang Lost In Saudi Arabia

Illustration of Hajj from Indonesia (ANTARA)

Saudi Arabia's Hajj Organizing Committee (PPIH) has found two of the three members of Indonesian pilgrims who have been reported missing and continue to seek a pilgrimage that has not been found.

"Alhamdulillah, of the three (members) of the missing pilgrims and so far we have been looking for, two have been found and we have buried them," said Head of the Arafah Operations Unit Muzdalifah Mina (Armuzna) Colonel (Laut) Harun Al Rasyid at the Ma'la Cemetery area, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Monday 17 July.

Harun said that now the team of officers is concentrating on finding Idun Rohim Zen bin Rohim, a member of the Hajj congregation from the Palembang 20 flying group whose whereabouts are not yet known.

According to him, the team of officers has returned to conduct sweeps in Tsalajah Muaisyim and morgues in hospitals in Makkah and its surroundings.

"In the future, we will conduct a review of the hospital in Jeddah. After yesterday the second team moved to Jeddah, so God willing, tomorrow the second team will move back to comb through the congregation being treated in the ICU and (who are) in the morgue of the hospital in Jeddah," he said.

Meanwhile, team one, Harun continued, moved back to Muaisyim, Mina Police Post, and hospitals in Makkah.

"We ask for prayers, hopefully one more member of the congregation who is still being sought has a common ground, we ask for prayers," he said.

Director of Hajj for the Ministry of Religion Arsad Hidayat in Medina, Sunday (16/7), said that if there are members of the Hajj pilgrims who have not been found until the Hajj service operational period is complete on August 4, 2023, the search will be continued by government representatives in Saudi Arabia.

"If the Hajj operations are completed and have not been found, we have a representative office here, a technical Hajj affair, and those are employees of the Ministry of Religion who are seconded to the Indonesian Consul General Jeddah," said Arsad.

According to him, the Technical Office for Indonesian Hajj Affairs in Saudi Arabia will continue its efforts to find missing members of the pilgrims and monitor the condition of members of the pilgrims who are still undergoing treatment due to illness.

"Continue, there is no time limit. Likewise, sick pilgrims who are still being treated while the return schedule is near," said Arsad.

In an effort to find members of the reported missing pilgrims, he said, the Saudi Arabian PPIH sent officers to trace hospitals in the cities of Mecca, Thaif, and Jeddah.

"PPII Saudi Arabia has also tracked locations that the congregation had visited, worried that maybe (there are) left in the Arafah, Muzdalifah, or Mina toilets," he said.

He said that the Saudi Arabian PPIH coordinated with the Saudi Arabian police in searching for missing members of the pilgrims.

"We are taking these steps as much as possible to find the identified congregation," said Arsad Hidayat.