Hyderabad, 22 October (H.S.): AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday urged the Centre to arrange the return of around 4,000 Indian Umrah pilgrims stranded in Saudi Arabia following flight cancellations, calling for special services if regular airlines cannot accommodate them.

In a post on X, Owaisi said the pilgrims were in Makkah and Madina and had travelled through IndiGo, Akasa Air and Air India. He urged the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to permit the airlines to deploy larger aircraft to facilitate their return. If that was not possible, he called for dedicated flights to bring the pilgrims back to India.

Owaisi also alleged that travel agents had abandoned the pilgrims and sought urgent intervention from the Centre, along with immediate assistance for those stranded. He tagged Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in his appeal.

The disruption comes amid security concerns following attacks attributed to Yemen's Houthi rebels on airports in Saudi Arabia. An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on October 11 reportedly killed 13 people, including a Hyderabad resident, and injured more than 300 people, among them 11 Indians.

A further attack at Dammam airport on the night of October 21 reportedly killed two people and injured eight others.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar