CAIRO - Cairo Airport authorities have launched an emergency plan to receive more than 90,000 Egyptians returning home from Saudi Arabia after performing the annual hajj, a news release said. The first trips for luxury hajj began Tuesday while the additional 353 flights will start tomorrow, the news release said. Ahmed Hafez, the chairman of Cairo Airport Company said that an operation room was formed at the airport to work 24 hours to follow up the flight operations and to overcome any problems as the scheduled trips will start today. Meanwhile, almost three million Muslim pilgrims massed in a valley near the Saudi city of Mina to stone pillars representing Satan, the last and most dangerous rite of the annual hajj. To complete the ritual, pilgrims must throw seven pebbles on the first day of the three-day Eid el-Adha feast marking the end of the hajj, and another seven on each of the last two days. Saudi authorities have installed a multi-level walkway through the site in a bid to avoid the trampling. The stoning site has been developed and movement is more fluid and the organisation is better.
