Cairo: A Kuwaiti man, who spent around 30 years serving the Muslim pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, has passed away on the climax day of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
Walid Esmail Idriss had devoted himself to serving his compatriots while performing Hajj in and around Mecca.
His colleagues said he had earlier told them that this year’s mission would be his last and he would retire.
He died while wearing the Ihram seamless white robe, donned by the pilgrims, on the Day of Arafat that fell this year on June 15, marking the pinnacle of Hajj, a colleague told the Saudi news TV Al Ekhbariya.
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He was buried in Al Shohada (Martyrs) cemetery in Mecca.
The circumstances of his death, being in a state of consecration, were hailed by the colleague as denoting a happy end to life.
The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health paid tribute to Idriss, calling him the “martyr of duty”.
The ministry said in a statement he was a member of the Kuwaiti Hajj medical team. Kuwait’s Health Minister Ahmad Al Awadi and other senior officials mourned Idriss’ death, saying he passed away while clad in the Ihram robe and serving the pilgrims.
As of Wednesday (tomorrow), nearly 8,000 pilgrims will start returning by air to Kuwait from Saudi Arabia after completing the Hajj rites there. They will fly aboard 38 Saudi and Kuwaiti flights during a three-day airlift, according to the Kuwaiti civil aviation authorities.
