'People kept slipping on the sand and falling down into the fire...'

Suparn Verma in Bombay

Cries of ''mamu,'' ''ammijaan,'' ''abba,'' and ''bhaijaan" filled the air as loved ones rushed into each others arms. Many wept unashamedly; while yet others raised their hands in silent thanksgiving to Allah for returning their hajis safe.

Three hundred and seventy five of the natives had returned, bringing relief to over a hundred Muslim families.

At 1400 IST, when Air-India's chartered flight from Jeddah landed one-and-a-half hours late, there were hundreds of Muslims waiting expectantly at Bombay's Sahar international airport. For many, it was a holy day, a day of rejoicing -- and neither the long wait nor the jostling crowd was going to spoil it for them.

"This is an occasion to celebrate," said a beaming Usmal Badra.

"My brother is coming back!" repeated Mohammad Ali Nagari, "Luckily, he rang us up the very next day after the accident so we did not worry at all." He had arrived at the airport with a full-fledged entourage -- of three brothers, two sisters, parents and friends.

"Anwar..." cried Akbar Hussain as his brother and sister Ishrat Jahan, the first ones to pass out of the entrance, walked down escorted by airport security guards. He rushed forward as the crowd parted respectfully, but could not reach his brother -- there were other hajis following Anwar, and more relatives rushing forward.

Later, as the brothers stood outside in the parking lot waiting for a taxi, the extremely fatigued-looking Anwar said, "Thank Allah I was able to go on haj. I shudder to think about the fire."

"We were lucky to escape alive. It was a nightmare there," added Ishrat, her voice quivering with emotion, "People were screaming and crying out all around us... " she broke off.

Karim Mehmood says it was nothing short of a miracle that he escaped. "This is my reincarnation. I was in my tent as it caught fire. There was a huge explosion in one of the Pakistani tents. And then the fire spread in a matter of minutes. All of us were running in one direction, towards the mountains," he recollected, "This nightmare will remain in my mind forever."

Holding tight to her 82-year-old mother and using a towel as a burkha, Munira Begum stood crying in the middle of a protective circle which her relatives had formed around her. "My burkha...." she sobbed, trying to cover her head with the small towel. All her belongings had been gutted in the fire. "My burkha...." Tears of shame and sorrow mixed with relief rolled down her cheeks.

Khatoon Razia's body still wracks with sobs as she tries to put her relief into words. "Khuda ka shukra hai ....khuda" (It is all thanks to Allah)," she mumbles. For over 20 hours after the fire, she was separated from her three family members. "There were so many bodies around... It was horrible, we did not know if the others were alive or not," said Mohammad her eldest son, "It is thanks to the Saudi authorities that we are together. I had given up hope, I had given up all hope..."

"Many families over there are still lost. I cannot tell you how awful it was," says Shamsilian Shamsi, "We had no way to go but climb the hills of sand and head for the mountains. And people kept slipping on the sand and falling down into the fire..."

And so it went... as more hajis related their tales of terror.

Photographs: Jewella C Miranda