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Indonesian Collapses at Changi Airport After Haj, Dies Later
Elizabeth Soh - Straits Times Indonesia | November 26, 2011

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Singapore. An Indonesian woman on her way back home from the haj pilgrimage collapsed in Changi Airport on Thursday and later died in a hospital.

Sri Maharani, 45, was transiting at Changi Airport Terminal 2 when she complained of breathing difficulties.

She was taken to a clinic in the airport and then to Changi General Hospital, but lost consciousness and was pronounced dead after doctors failed to resuscitate her.

Maharani had been on a Singapore Airlines flight from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and was in transit for her flight to Jakarta when the incident happened.

She was with her husband and 50 friends who had also been on the pilgrimage.

Her husband, Soedarsono, 60, went to the mortuary at Singapore General Hospital yesterday to collect his wife’s body, accompanied by two officers from the Indonesian Embassy.

Dressed in a batik shirt and trousers, he appeared to still be in shock.

“It happened too suddenly for him. He is still trying to understand what happened to his wife,” said one of the embassy officials, who gave his name as Emil. “She had just become a ‘haji,’ and they were finally on their way home.”

He said the embassy would assist in repatriating the body back to their hometown of Surabaya, where her husband wants her to be buried.

Singapore Airlines staff have been assisting Soedarsono and have provided him with accommodation, Emil added.

The haj is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world and is often physically exhausting.

Muslims consider it a religious duty that must be carried out at least once by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so.

According to the Saudia Arabian Embassy, more than 1.8 million Muslims made the pilgrimage to Mecca this year, the highest number in more than a decade.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.