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THEY LEFT MARYLAND FOR MECCA. THEY DIDN’T ALL MAKE IT HOME.

A cottage industry of Hajj tour companies exists with little oversight. Texts,
recordings and witness accounts show the horrors endured by a group who trusted
those operators.

By Jasmine Hilton
, 
Katie Shepherd
, 
Lateshia Beachum
and 
Steve Thompson
July 2, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. EDT

Fatmata Koroma, 61, of Maryland, was one of more than 1,300 who died on the Hajj
pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia last month. (Family photo )

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Even before Nemata Kamara set foot on a plane bound for Saudi Arabia, she
started to see a pattern of broken promises from the tour operators she trusted
to get her from Maryland to Mecca.

The 40-year-old business owner said she paid $11,000 for the operators to handle
the paperwork and logistics necessary to access the holy city during the Hajj,
the sacred annual pilgrimage many Muslims spend years dreaming about and saving
up to afford. At a May orientation for the trip held in a Prince George’s County
mosque, Kamara and dozens of other travelers expected to receive their “Hajj
package,” complete with the visa required by the Saudi government to participate
in the pilgrimage.


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