Travellers stranded in Tanzania
12 December 2007More than 1,300 Muslims on a pilgrimage to Mecca are stranded in the African country of Tanzania, according to reports.
A plane hired by Air Tanzania broke down and its replacement was not granted a landing slot at the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah's airport.
Most of the pilgrims are Tanzanian, although others came from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Comoros Island, the BBC reports.
Hundreds of the travellers have spent ten days at Tanzania's Dar es Salaam airport.
Some have had to rely on local people to provide them with food and water during the wait, while others have stayed in hotels in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania.
On December 11th a number of women were admitted to hospital to be treated for heat exhaustion and stress after the cancellation of the replacement flight, which was ready to leave with 600 people on board before being told it could not land in Saudi Arabia.