Ahmad 
On Thursday, the Egyptian government threatened the companies that arranged pilgrims’ travel outside of official frameworks, threatening to take decisive decisions and impose the harshest penalties on them.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly revealed, in a statement to the Council of Ministers, the formation of a work cell to manage the crisis of the death of Egyptian pilgrims, based on the assignments of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Madbouly stressed that “the crisis cell is composed of officials from the ministries and concerned authorities, and one of its tasks, in accordance with the president’s directives, will be to provide support and assistance to the families of the deceased, and to study the reasons for what happened and work to prevent it from being repeated.”
The statement indicated that “an investigation will be opened into any company that arranged the travel of these deceased pilgrims outside the regulatory frameworks and circumvented the organization of travel for the victims unofficially and did not provide them with logistical services. Decisive decisions will be taken, and the most severe penalties will be imposed that will contribute to preventing the recurrence of these violations again.” “.
Madbouly explained that there is continuous follow-up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which issued several statements about the crisis, in addition to the Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Affairs Abroad, and there is communication with the Saudi side and the official Hajj delegation to provide medical and logistical support to all Egyptian pilgrims, regardless of whether they are part of the official delegation or not.
Madbouly noted that coordination is currently underway with the Saudi authorities to facilitate the receipt of the bodies of the deceased and conduct an accurate inventory of the victims and missing persons, stressing that the Egyptian official delegation, which includes 50,752 pilgrims, enjoys high-level health care, and the number of deaths there has reached 28, which is the lowest percentage over the past year. Previous years.
The Prime Minister confirmed that the consular work teams affiliated with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are currently conducting field visits to hospitals to obtain data on Egyptian citizens present there, whether those receiving treatment or those who have passed away and matching them with the data of missing citizens.
Madbouly added that there are large numbers of Egyptians who are not registered in the official Hajj databases, which requires double the effort and a longer time to search for those who are missing and find their relatives.
The statement stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has allocated a number of emergency rooms operating around the clock to receive citizens’ calls and assist them in this crisis.
Egypt pays $1.2 billion to the foreign oil companies