More than 40 people were killed on Monday after a bus carrying Indian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia crashed into an oil tanker near the city of Medina, the authorities in India said.
There were 46 people on board when the bus crashed, and only one person survived, V.C. Sajjanar, a police commissioner in the Indian city of Hyderabad, said at a news conference. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India said on social media that he was “deeply saddened by the accident.”
The passengers had traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Umrah pilgrimage, which is a lesser version of the Hajj and is performed by millions of Muslims every year.
A statement from the government of the state of Telangana, which includes Hyderabad and is home to many of the victims, said the bus had been traveling to Medina, considered to be the second-holiest city in Islam, from Mecca, the religion’s holiest city.
The Indian consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said in a news release that it had set up a control room to assist families of victims. It said that the accident had happened overnight, though few details of the crash were immediately released.
Road accidents have long been a significant cause of death and injury in Saudi Arabia. The World Health Organization said in 2023 that the Saudi government had taken steps that had led to a nearly 35 percent reduction in traffic fatalities from 2016 to 2021.
Matthew Mpoke Bigg is a London-based reporter on the Live team at The Times, which covers breaking and developing news.
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