TAIF, 15 August — Two Arab pilgrims and a Saudi bus driver were killed and 17 injured in a road accident on their way to Makkah to perform Umrah on Tuesday.

The pilgrims, a Yemeni man and an Egyptian woman, and the driver were killed instantly when the bus they were traveling in was hit by a tire that blew out from a truck coming from the opposite direction.

According to Al-Watan newspaper, the three died in the accident were: Suhair Muhammad Abdullatif, Egyptian woman, Ali Abdullah Ismail, Yemeni, Abdurabb Ali Al-Silmi, Saudi driver.

The injured were: Muhammad Hussain Juma, Abdullah Hussain Juma, Hussain Juma, Muad Hussain Juma, Nouf Abdullah Al-Saadi, Hanouf Abdullah Al-Saadi, Abdullah Rashid Al-Saadi and Mouda Abdul Rahman. According to the paper, some of them were in serious condition.

The paper said the accident occurred about 1.30 a.m. near Arfaa, 30 kms north of Taif on the Taif-Riyadh Expressway, when the pilgrims were coming from Riyadh.

The bus was carrying 50 pilgrims. The tire that blew out from the truck had struck the bus’s windscreen, smashing it.

Civil Defense and Red Crescent officers rushed to the spot and provided first-aid to the injured. A medical team from King Faisal Hospital in Taif also took part in the rescue operation.

Hussein Juma Muhammad, an Egyptian, told Al-Watan that he lost his wife in the accident. His 10-month-old son is in the intensive care unit. Saudi Public Transport Company sent a bus to transport those pilgrims, who were not injured, to Makkah.

According Ahmad Bashir Nasir, a Sudanese, two tires of the truck had hit the bus after crossing the road divider.

"The Yemeni passenger who died in the accident was sitting in the back. He later moved to the front row to talk with the driver. He was the first to be hit by the flying tire," Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Awad, a Sudanese, told Al-Madinah.

Muqbil Muhammad Al-Suhail, a Yemeni who could not control his tears, said the driver of the bus in front of them had succeeded in dodging the tires.

"That driver, a brother of our driver, had signaled the danger of the flying tires, but our driver did not understand that signal," he pointed out.

"When the tires hit the bus it was burning. It spread smoke inside the bus. We broke the rear glass of the bus and escaped. We also helped other passengers to get out," Thabit Jameel, a Palestinian, said.

In another accident, five people were killed, four from the same family, and five passengers seriously injured, when two cars collided head-on south of Taif.

A man and his wife and their son and daughter were among the victims in Monday’s accident.