Two Erbil pilgrims killed in tragic car crash en route to Umrah

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two individuals from Erbil lost their lives and two others were injured in a tragic car accident on Wednesday while en route to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah pilgrimage, a family member told Rudaw.

Sardar Mohammed said, "My father-in-law Hamzah Abdulkarim and three of his friends - Sabah, Shukur and Faris Asinger - began their journey at midnight on Wednesday, travelling by car to Mecca to perform Umrah.”

Tragically, the car overturned in Iraq's western deserts, resulting in the death of two passengers, including Mohammed’s father-in-law. The third and fourth persons in the vehicle survived but were severely injured in the incident.

Mohammed added that he had traveled to the crash site to retrieve the bodies, which will be transferred to Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s western Anbar province, “where they will be handed over to their families."

Umrah is a pilgrimage performed by Muslims in Mecca at any time of the year. Millions of Muslims from around the world travel to Saudi Arabia annually to visit its sacred sites, especially the Kaaba, which holds the esteemed status of being Islam’s holiest site.

Every year, thousands of pilgrims from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region embark on the journey to perform Umrah. While many travel by plane, many prefer to go by bus or private vehicles, crossing through the Arar border crossing between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

The crossing was closed for three decades following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. However, it was reopened in November 2020, initially limited to cargo and only open to pilgrims for specific days of the Haj pilgrimage.

The annual Haj pilgrimage is one of Islam’s five pillars and is mandatory for physically and financially able Muslims. It takes place from the 8th to the 12th of the Islamic lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah and requires pilgrims to arrive early to prepare for the physically and spiritually demanding rituals in Mecca.

In September 2022, the crossing fully reopened to Iraqi citizens undertaking religious pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia.

At the time, Iraq’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Abdul-Sattar al-Janabi, described the crossing as “a key bloodline connecting the two countries and facilitating the economic trade which we aspire to grow further in coming years.”

Joint Iraqi-Saudi efforts to modernize the Arar border crossing have been ongoing since 2020 to address logistical challenges posed by its 30-year closure.

The state-owned Saudi Press Agency (SPA) in November 2020 reported that Baghdad and Riyadh agreed to "facilitate and speed up commercial exchange" and initiate "an expansion project for the road connecting the crossing with the Saudi borders."

The Iraqi National Investment Commission has also advertised investment opportunities to build hotels, testing labs, and a full monitoring system.

More recently, in May 2024, Saudi Arabia’s Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) completed a major project to ready the crossing for the Hajj season.

Around that time, SPA reported the construction of a new Hajj terminal spanning over 9,000 square meters, featuring 68 passport counters and six inspection areas. The move was part of a larger plan to ensure "seamless procedures" and "exceptional services," ZATCA then said, according to SPA.

Farhad Dolamari contributed to this report.

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