With the Tamale airlift now over the Accra chapter is set to commence tomorrow; all things being equal.
The airline engaged in the airlift, FlyNas, a Saudi registered airline, had quickly moved to contain the initial hiccup which eclipsed the Tamale airlifting exercise by doubling some of the flights and the dispatch of bigger aircraft.
The total pilgrim population flown from Tamale is close to one thousand eight hundred.
The initial airlift hiccup attracted a series of politically-tinctured attacks from some quarters when the delay lasted. The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia alongside the National Chief, Imam Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, stayed longer in Tamale for the resolution of the impasse before returning to Accra.
During his interaction with the pilgrims in the heat of the delay over their airlift, the Vice President explained that the aircraft had to return to base when 45 minutes into the journey a fault was detected.
Yesterday had two smaller aircraft flying in for what has been described as a mopping-up exercise in view of a backlog of pilgrims in the Tamale operations.
Meanwhile the advance team of Hajj Board officials is engaged with the allocation of rooms to arriving pilgrims in both Madina and Mecca, information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicated.
An advance medical team is also said to have set up clinic and is attending to the health needs of pilgrims. Members of the medical team are reported to be engaged in other non-medical services to make life comfortable for the pilgrims some of whom are not only aged but traveling outside their towns for the first time and need to be supported to be acclimatized to the new environment.
The advance team has met with members of the local Welfare team made up of Ghanaians resident in Saudi Arabia; some of them students studying in tertiary institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Better buses are said to have replaced the previous ones when pilgrims arrive and need to be transported from one station to the other.
With four persons to a room, as per the new accommodation arrangement, the shelter is said to have witnessed an improvement over the previous years.
In another development, the Head of Communications of the Hajj Board, A.R. Gomda has apologized for the initial hiccup and explained it was attributable to a challenge suffered by the airline.