Saudi Arabia: At least 35, mostly Indians, feared dead in horrific bus-tanker crash near Medina

At least 35 people died in the early hours of Monday (local time) after a bus carrying Indian Umrah pilgrims in Saudi Arabia crashed into a diesel tanker.

The Medina-bound bus had been carrying the pilgrim group—mainly comprising people from Telangana—from Makkah when the accident took place at about 1:30 AM in the Mufrihat area of the Badr-Medina Highway.

Initial reports say that women and children comprised more than half of the pilgrim group deaths. According to Telangana IT minister D. Sridhar Babu, at least 16 of the pilgrims were from Hyderabad. He added that more details of the victims were being collected.

Though the Saudi police and Civil Defence teams reached the spot to begin rescue efforts, many of the bodies at the site of the crash were reportedly burnt beyond recognition.

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy has urged officials from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Saudi Embassy to immediately begin necessary relief measures, expressing "profound shock" at the tragic accident.

The pilgrims were reportedly part of an Umrah travel group, who had left from Hyderabad on November 9, and were en route to Medina after completing their prayers in Makkah, a relative of one of the victims said, as per a Hindustan Times report. It added that they had travelled via an agency named Al Meena and Al Mecca Travels, Nampally.

Hyderabad MP and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi noted that there had been about 42 pilgrims aboard the bus, of which only one had survived.

The accident also prompted the Consulate General of India in Jeddah to set up a 24x7 control room to provide information to the families of the bus accident victims and assistance.