Jakarta. Indonesia will start sending its hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, according to the Religious Affairs Ministry.

Saiful Majab, a director at the ministry, said the country with the world's largest Muslim population will send the remaining batches gradually until June 10. The country so far already has 554 batches of pilgrims -- all have received their respective visas.

“To this day, about 213,079 pilgrims already have their visas issued,” Saiful was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.

Indonesia this year gets to send 241,000 hajj pilgrims and 213,320 of them are those who perform the so-called “regular hajj” pilgrims. By “regular”, the hajj program is directly managed by the government. The remaining 27,680 people are “special hajj pilgrims” who go to Mecca using private travel agency services.

While all hajj pilgrims already have their visas, some of them decided to cancel their trips due to a number of reasons. Some fell sick, while others passed away. Saiful added: “Today, we are currently trying to process 241 visas of those who canceled their hajj.”

The 554 batches of pilgrims will fly to Saudi Arabia from 14 locations across the archipelago. Some will depart from Batam and Balikpapan, while others will head to Saudi Arabia from Jakarta-Bekasi. About 294 batches will fly using the flag carrier Garuda Indonesia. 

“As many as 260 batches will use Saudia Airlines,” Saiful said.

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