Twenty two Nigerians died during this year’s holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia- NAN

Twenty two Nigerians died during this year’s holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

The head of Information, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Alhaji Uba Mana, said this on Tuesday in a telephone interview with Punch correspondent.

Mana, who did not give the state-by-state breakdown of the figure, said majority of the victims died of natural causes, and had been buried in Saudi Arabia in accordance with Islamic rites.

He said the death toll was lower than that of the previous years, due to adequate medical arrangement provided by the commission.

Mana also attributed the low casualty rate to the awareness created by the commission on personal hygiene and the performance of a stress-free hajj.

NAN reports that 44 pilgrims died in 2011 and 36 pilgrims in 2012 out of the over 95,000 pilgrims who performed the hajj in each of the years.

Speaking on the transportation of pilgrims back home, Mana said the commission was able to complete the exercise four days ahead of the Nov. 19 deadline given to it by the Saudi Arabia authorities.

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