An Umrah group from the Maldives has been left unable to travel to Saudi Arabia for their pilgrimage.
One hundred eighty pilgrims from Al Safa Pvt Ltd were informed at the last minute that their trip had been canceled due to failure to obtain visas. The group was scheduled to depart for Saudi Arabia this morning.
According to a message sent to the group's Viber group for pilgrims, the Saudi Arabian company responsible for issuing the pilgrims' visas had not issued the visas to the group.
"As of this time today, the Saudi Umrah visa issuing company has not issued any visas to this group, and we regret to inform you that we cannot depart [as scheduled]," the message read.
The pilgrims' luggage, which was collected earlier, will be available to collect between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm today. More information regarding the pilgrimage would be shared later, Al Safa said.