The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Four Britons die in pilgrimage bus crash
Saudi Arabia: Coach and petrol tanker collide near Mecca
Four Britons have died in a collision between a coach and a petrol tanker in Saudi Arabia.
The victims were among 18 people on board the coach which was travelling from Mecca to Medina on Saturday as part of an Umra pilgrimage.
A woman aged in her 60s from Blackburn, Lancashire, an elderly woman and her adult son, from Preston, Lancashire, and an elderly man, also from Preston, died in the crash near the town of Al Khalas, said Blackburn-based travel firm Hashim Travel.
The driver of the petrol tanker is also said to have died, while other coach passengers were treated for fractures.
Family members of the victims are planning to fly out to Saudi Arabia within the next 24 hours.
The travel firm’s director Gulfaraz Zaman said: “The coach driver said they were travelling in the opposite direction to the petrol tanker when a car overtook the tanker and he had to move in to the side of the road a little to let it through but then the petrol tanker hit the coach which caught fire.”
He called the incident “horrendous” and “very distressing”.
“If you see the remains of the bus, there’s just the metal frame of it that’s left,” he said.
“It’s very upsetting – especially the people that have passed away,” he added.
“Our thoughts are with the families.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the British families of those who have died and those injured following a serious road traffic accident near the town of Al Khalas, Saudi Arabia.” Al Khalas is a settlement 30 miles north of the holy site of Mecca.
Hashim Travel says it has been operating specialist Hajj and Umra tour packages for more than 15 years.
The Umra pilgrimage, which can be undertaken any time of the year, is a smaller version of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which sees millions of Muslims travel to Mecca.