JEDDAH, 10 September 2003 — Thirty Iranian pilgrims were injured in a road accident when their bus collided with a truck on the Jeddah-Makkah Expressway yesterday. The injured were taken to Al-Noor Hospital in Makkah.
“They suffered only minor injuries,” a source at the hospital told Arab News.
Police are investigating the circumstances that led to the accident.
However, a source at the traffic department said the accident was caused by a speeding driver.
It was unclear whether he referred to the driver of the bus or the truck. Five Saudi Red Crescent Society teams took part in the rescue operation.
The Jeddah-Makkah Expressway is one of the busiest in the Kingdom with tens of thousands of cars using the road every day. The road has witnessed many accidents in the past, especially during the Haj and Umrah seasons.
According to a report issued by the first-aid service department of the Saudi Red Crescent Society, 154 people were killed in road accidents in the first three months of this year.
The report, which covered the first quarter of this year, said the society’s ambulance service had attended 42,937 road accidents in the first three months of this year against 37,939 during the same period last year, registering an increase of 2.13 percent.
