Hajj 2017: Fire in Makkah hotel, over 600 pilgrims evacuated

Riyadh: A fire broke out in a hotel in the Saudi city Makkah on Monday, sparking alarm among Haj pilgrims, an official said on Monday.

The hotel in Makkah, where some two million Muslims will perform the 2017 Haj pilgrimage, was evacuated after the fire, Xinhua news agency reported.

Civil Defence spokesman Nayef al-Sharif said no casualties were reported in the incident.

The fire erupted due to a faulty air conditioning unit on the eighth floor of the hotel in Azaziyah district. All 600 residents haj pilgrims, most of them from Turkey and Yemen, were evacuated and later returned to the hotel.

ALSO READ: Virtues of the ten days of Dhul Hijjah

“All the hotel guests were evacuated as a precautionary measure by rescue teams while the fire was put out and the situation brought under control without causing any injuries or loss of life”, Arab News quoted him as saying.

The hajj draws Muslims from around the world to the western Saudi Arabia city of Makkah, birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the most revered site in Islam.

The pilgrimage, a pillar of Islam that capable Muslims must perform at least once, will take place in the first week of September.

With agencies inputs