Senior general manager of Lembaga Tabung Haji, Syed Saleh Syed Abdul Rahman, said the 30,200 Malaysian haj pilgrims this year had been warned to always heed the advice of Tabung Haji medical staff.

The first flight of Malaysian haj pilgrims will depart on July 14 while the last flight will be on Aug 15. Their return flights are scheduled from Aug 29 to Sept 25.

A total of 81 special charter flights will be used for this year’s haj pilgrimage, involving 40 MAS flights and 41 Flynas flights.

Syed Saleh, who is also the Malaysian haj delegation head, said there would be 141 TH staff on duty, consisting of 62 welfare personnel, 63 medical personnel and 16 media personnel, who departed for the holy land on a Malaysia Airlines Berhad flight at 2.45pm.

He said the group was part of a total of 600 TH staff. The first batch of 13 information technology personnel departed on July 2, while the rest will depart on July 11.

He also said all the plans and preparations for the haj pilgrimage this year went smoothly with the cooperation of various agencies, including the Immigration Department, the police and the Saudi Arabian embassy in Malaysia.