RIYADH, 20 October 2004 — Four Sri Lankan women were killed and 25 others injured in a road accident when the bus they were traveling in collided with an oil tanker in Aflaj, 350 km away from Riyadh, on Sunday.
The bus was transporting 37 Sri Lankan and four Bangladeshi women from Najran to Riyadh. The women were employed as hospital cleaners in Najran for Al-Majal Al-Arabi Establishment in Riyadh.
A spokesman from the consular division of the Sri Lankan Embassy confirmed that the four killed were Sri Lankans. They were identified as Dilakshi Priyadarshini, Anula Nilakanthi, Anushika Dilrukshi and Preethika.
According to the spokesman, five of the 25 injured were admitted to the Al-Aflaj General Hospital in critical condition.
The women were coming to Riyadh to depart to their homeland on completion of their three-year contract with the Saudi establishment.
Sources said the bus was driven by a Bangladeshi driver, who reportedly fell asleep on the wheel.
“The driver had to drive alone from Najran to Riyadh without a substitute,” the sources added.
The Sri Lankan Embassy has dispatched a two-member team to assist the injured and to make arrangements to send the bodies of the dead to Sri Lanka.
Ali Akbar, charge d’affaires at the Bangladesh Embassy, told Arab News that his mission has already taken action to look after the welfare of the four Bangladeshi women injured in the accident.
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest rates of road accidents, according to the Transport Ministry. About 80,000 people have died in road crashes in the country in the past 30 years, official figures show.
