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Six days from homecoming, 45 Indians die in Saudi Arabia: Hyderabad top cop details pilgrims’ travel plan
Of the 54 Umrah pilgrims, four travelled separately by car to Madinah on Sunday, while another four stayed back in Mecca, said Hyderabad police.
At least 45 Indian Umrah pilgrims, all from Hyderabad, died in Saudi Arabia after the bus carrying them from Mecca to Madinah collided with a diesel tanker early Monday morning, Telangana officials confirmed.
The crash took place at around 1.30 am IST in Mufrihat, roughly 160 km from Madinah. Of the 46 people on board, only one is known to have survived, Hyderabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar said.
Follow Saudi Arabia bus tanker crash live updates
The group had left Hyderabad on November 9 for the Umrah pilgrimage. According to officials, it included 20 women and 11 children. They completed their rituals in Mecca and were travelling onwards to Madinah when the bus burst into flames after the collision, leaving most passengers charred to death on the spot.
Telangana IT minister D Sridhar Babu said preliminary information suggests at least 16 of the deceased were from Hyderabad’s Bazarghat area in Mallepalli. “Details of the deceased are being ascertained,” he told reporters.
‘Scheduled to return on November 23’
Briefing the media, Hyderabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar offered a clearer picture of the group’s travel plan. He said a total of 54 pilgrims had flown from Hyderabad to Jeddah on November 9, but not all continued the journey together.
“Of the 54, four people travelled separately by car to Madinah on Sunday, while another four stayed back in Mecca,” he said.
That left 46 people on the ill-fated bus, which later collided with an oil tanker around 25 km from Madinah.
Only one person survived and is undergoing treatment. He added that only one passenger, “Mohammad Abdul Suyaib,” survived and is being treated in the ICU at the Saudi German Hospital. The bodies of the deceased have been shifted to a local hospital, he added, according to an AI-translation of his statement.
PM express shock, assure swift action
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and external affairs minister S Jaishankar said they were “deeply shocked” by the accident and assured prompt assistance through official channels.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also expressed anguish over the reports, noting that several of the victims were Hyderabad residents.
The Consulate General of India in Jeddah said it is working closely with Saudi authorities and the Indian Embassy in Riyadh. “Officials of the Embassy and the consulate are also in touch with the concerned officials of the state of Telangana to coordinate with the concerned families,” it said in a statement.
Google Trends
According to Google Trends, the search term “bus accident Saudi Arabia” saw a major spike on Tuesday morning, with the highest interest coming from Telangana, followed by Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Assam. Related breakout queries included “bus accident in Saudi Arabia,” “Saudi Arabia bus accident today,” “Saudi Arabia news bus accident,” and “Saudi Arabia news.” Another unrelated breakout query that trended alongside was “Tenneco Clean Air IPO allotment status.”
