AHSA, 13 January 2007 — Twenty-two pilgrims of various nationalities returning from their pilgrimage to the holy cities were killed and 24 injured when two buses collided head-on seven kilometers from the Bataha checkpoint between the Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates yesterday morning.
The UAE bound bus was transporting Syrian, Egyptian, Pakistani and Kyrgyz pilgrims. “I received a report this morning that an accident involving two buses took place near Bataha at 7.10 a.m. We immediately sent five rescue teams to the accident spot,” Saud Muhammad Al-Dosary, supervisor at the Saudi Red Crescent Society in Ahsa, told the Saudi Press Agency yesterday.
“All the victims were rushed to different hospitals such as the Bataha Health Center, King Fahd Hospital in Hofuf and other hospitals in Ahsa.”
In another accident, 15 British pilgrims were injured at a road intersection near Jabal Al-Rahmah in Arafat on Thursday, Al-Madinah newspaper reported yesterday. A speeding bus carrying 49 passengers from the direction of the Jabal Al-Rahmah slammed in to the bus carrying the British pilgrims.
A large number of the pilgrims escaped unhurt while 11 injured Britons were admitted to Al-Noor Specialist Hospital and four to the King Faisal Hospital.
Three British pilgrims were killed and 34 injured when their coach crashed on Dec. 9, some 90 km north of Jeddah.
The bus carrying 50 passengers was en route to Makkah from Madinah. The accident occurred at a notorious black spot on a winding section of the Jeddah-Madinah Road.
