Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.23 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Saudi Arabia's authorities have refused to allow 20,534 foreign nationals a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina for various reasons and returned them to their home country, Al Arabiya TV channel reported on Tuesday.
The main reasons were lack of appropriate clothing for the Hajj (ehram), as well as fake visas and passports.
According to the TV channel, about eight buses carrying foreign nationals with forged visas were detained. The channel did not specify which countries the citizens they were from.
This year, about five million people from around the world visited Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage.