INDIA ISSUES TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR UMRAH PILGRIMS STRANDED IN SAUDI ARABIA

This image from CCTV video released by Saudi Arabia’s Media Ministry shows passengers taking cover as flames and smoke fill part of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during what authorities described as a strike at the airport on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Saudi Media Ministry via AP)

Thu 22 October 2026:

India’s Minister for External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal says efforts are under way to repatriate Indian nationals on pilgrimage, stranded in Saudi Arabia, according to a post on X.

“Over the past week, about 3,000 stranded Umrah pilgrims have travelled from Saudi Arabia back to India on available flights”, Jaiswal said.

“This is in addition to more than 10,000 normal Umrah pilgrims”, who travelled back to India over the past week.

The minister said India’s embassies and consulates in the kingdom have set up 24-hour emergency control rooms to assist those seeking help in arranging flights back home.

Umrah is a voluntary Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is considered a “minor” pilgrimage compared to the annual Hajj.

In 2025, Indians accounted for a significant portion of the more than 18 million Umrah pilgrims who visited Saudi Arabia.

This year, Umrah pilgrims are facing travel disruptions amid attacks on Saudi airports by Yemen’s Houthis.

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Attack on Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd airport kills two people

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) says on Thursday that the number of people killed in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in the eastern city of Dammam has risen to two – a Saudi national and an Indian resident.

The GACA said in a statement on Thursday that eight people were wounded in Wednesday’s attack and that operations at the airport had resumed and air traffic had returned to normal.

Separately on Wednesday, two people were killed after Saudi air defences intercepted a drone that was attempting to hit a facility at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oilfield, the Ministry of Energy said.

The attack are the latest in a series of assaults on Saudi infrastructure as conflict intensifies between the Houthis, and the Saudi-backed internationally recognised Yemeni government.

Last week, the kingdom reported that a projectile strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on October 11 killed one person and injured 11. On October 10, the civil aviation authority reported that a separate attack on the same airport killed 12 people and injured more than 300.

Owaisi Urges Centre to Bring Back 4,000 Indian Pilgrims Stranded in Saudi Arabia

AIMIM chief and Member of Parliament from Hyderabd Asaduddin Owaisi urged the Union government on Thursday to bring back the Umrah pilgrinms stranded in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah as airline suspended flights amid security reasons and the travel agents have reportedly left them in the lurch.

4,000 pilgrims from India are stuck in Makkah & Madina.They had flown via @IndiGo6E @AkasaAir @airindia but are now stuck there since these Airlines have cancelled their flights.
@DGCAIndia must give these airline’s permission to run flights in larger aircraft’s so that these stranded pilgrims can return to India if not at least specified flights must be arranged to bring them back.

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) October 22, 2026

In a post on X, the Hyderabad MP said, “The Indian pilgrims have been abandoned by their travel agents. This needs your urgent intervention; in the meanwhile necessary support must be provided to the stranded pilgrims.”

He urged the aviation authorities to facilitate additional capacity through larger aircraft, which could help airlines accommodate more passengers seeking to return home.

Owaisi said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) should allow airlines to deploy larger aircraft to bring the pilgrims home. Alternatively, he said, the government should arrange special flights to evacuate them.

He sought the intervention of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and other Union Ministers.

Around 4,000 Indian pilgrims were stranded in Makkah and Madina after airlines suspended flights to Saudi Arabian cities amid the security situation, Owaisi said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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