Four British pilgrims were killed and 12 others injured in Saudi Arabia when their bus collided with a fuel tanker, officials said on Sunday. The crash occurred on Saturday near the western Saudi town of Al Khalas while the pilgrims were on their way to the sacred city of Makkah. Inna lilahi wa inna elayhi rajeoun.
“The royal embassy of Saudi Arabia in London is working with (Britain’s) Foreign Office to issue emergency visas immediately to both the relatives of the four pilgrims who died as well as to families of the 12 British pilgrims who were injured,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The injured have been taken to a hospital in Mecca where everything possible is being done to care for them.” The Saudi ambassador to Britain Mohammed bin Nawaf also tweeted his “sincere sympathies”.
The bus crashed around 30 miles away from Mecca (Picture: Google Maps)
The embassy’s statement said 17 British pilgrims were aboard the bus. The fatalities included a 70-year-old grandmother from Blackburn, in northern England, and an elderly man, a mother and her grown-up son, all from the neighboring city of Preston, according to media reports in Britain.
My thoughts are with the family and friends of those that are reported to have been invlolved in an accident in Saudi Arabia
Ben Wallace, a lawmaker for the area in the UK parliament, wrote on Twitter: “My thoughts are with the family and friends of those that are reported to have been involved in an accident in Saudi Arabia.” A local company, Hashim Travel, reportedly organized the tour.
Gulfaraz Zaman, its director, told the BBC the accident was “horrendous”. “If you see the remains of the bus, there’s just the metal frame of it that’s left,” he said. In a brief statement, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office said: “We are supporting the British families of those who have died and those injured following a serious road traffic accident”.
A spokesperson for CBHUK (The Council of British Hajjis), a national pilgrim welfare charity, said the British Consulate in Jeddah was providing on-the-ground consular support.
Some people expressed dismay at some media outlets using the image of the Kaaba for their feature picture on their reporting of this story.
Can’t believe how heartless these racist are 4 people die and all they can focus on is religion if it had been 4 white middle class people from Surrey would we hear such racist comments? They really are lower than a snakes belly and do not represent me most of the UK
Born in Hong Kong, grew up in Scotland and ethnically Pakistani, Adeel primes himself to be a multicultural individual who is an advent social media user for the purpose of learning and propagating Islam while is also a sports fan. Being an English teacher himself, he envisions a bright future for Muslims which he strongly believes can only be done with education.
Adeel Malik
