The fate of thousands of pilgrims who were due to jet off from the Tamale airport to Jeddah in the Islamic Republic of Saud Arabia on Thursday, August 10, 2017, is still not known.

As at midday on Friday, there were no indications a flight would arrive to airlift them contrary to promises that this year’s exercise will be without bottlenecks.

Authorities blame the situation on flight challenges at Jeddah but said they are optimistic the first batch of pilgrims will leave the ancient town of Tamale before the close of Friday, August 11, 2017.

A total of about 3,000 pilgrims in groups 500 on each of the 6 flights are expected to be transported to the Holy Land for the annual religious exercise.

As at press time, all pilgrims were still stationed at the Tamale Sports Stadium which is their new base but Members of the National Hajj Board are of the firm believe the matter will be resolved by close of today.