More than 1.68 million Hajj pilgrims from all over the world have arrived in the Kingdom to perform Hajj, the General Directorate of Passports announced on Thursday. Maj. Gen. Sulaiman Al Yahya, director general of the Directorate General of Passports, told a press conference: “Up to this moment, our air, land and sea checkpoints have warmly received 1,684,629 pilgrims from different countries of the world.” According to Yahya, 1,584,000 pilgrims have arrived by air, 85,000 entered the country via land crossing points, and 16,163 came by sea. He added that Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman were keen on facilitating easier and comfortable arrival of pilgrims from abroad. He said that effective use of technology has given an edge to Saudi Passports department to assist pilgrims while arrival and departure from Kingdom where biometrics play an important role. He told that handheld devices and other equipment were integrated with National Information Center of Ministry of Interior. Civil Aviation The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has successfully completed its operation plan for the arrival phase of the pilgrims for the current Hajj season. The total number of flights reached 6,969: 3,939 via King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and 3,030 via Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Airport in Medina. Civil Defense General Sulaiman Al-Amro, Director of Civil Defense, said that he notified the ministry of interior of the readiness of the civil defense forces to continue its mission in this Hajj season. Municipal, Rural Affairs The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs completed the maintenance of 58 tunnels in Makkah and Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah, within a detailed plan to operate and maintain municipal facilities. Awareness Messages Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has launched its awareness campaign for Hajj pilgrims to cooperate with all sectors, officials, and organizers. Awareness messages will be sent through social media platforms to various local, regional and international media in several languages; Arabic, English, French, Russian, Chinese and Persian.