The first batch of Haj pilgrims left the Haj House on Wednesday in buses towards the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) amid chants of the talbiya, a religious affirmation made on the way to the pilgrimage.
More than 40 flights will take around 8,000 pilgrims from Hyderabad embarkation point to the port city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Pilgrims will then travel to Mecca to perform Haj rituals.
Ahead of the departure, men were draped in the ehraam (two pieces of white cloth covering the torso and the lower body), and women wore black or white burqas, even as they waited patiently to board the buses to the airport. The first flight carrying around 150 pilgrims left at 10.15 a.m.
