RIYADH: Eight pilgrims were killed and 13 were injured on their way to Madinah when the bus they were traveling in overturned on Friday morning.
A Saudi Red Crescent Authority operations room received a notification at 6:14 a.m. on Friday stating that a bus had overturned on Al-Hijra Road, near the town of Wadi Al-Fara, according to a statement issued on Friday evening.
The authority’s vehicles and teams were immediately directed to deal with the accident and the injured travelers, said Dr. Ahmed Al-Zahrani, director general of the SRCA branch in Madinah. He added that 20 ambulance teams and six teams responded to the incident.
An eyewitness confirmed to Arab News that most of those killed were Egyptians and Sudanese and that the bus had most likely veered off the road.
Al-Zahrani said there were 51 people on the bus. Three people were seriously injured and there were 10 who were moderately injured. The condition of the remaining passengers was stable by the time the teams arrived on the scene.
Five of the injured were taken to hospitals in the area once they had been given on-site treatment and triage by the emergency teams.
“The emergency teams were present at the site until the completion of the Civil Defense work to get the trapped people out of the bus and the deceased were transferred through the non-ambulatory transportation of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority,” he said.
The Al-Hijra Road links the two holy cities. The pilgrims had completed Umrah and were going to Madinah to spend time there.
Earlier this month, on April 16, another bus carrying pilgrims overturned. One person died and several were injured.
