SAPTCO said the bus, traveling from Riyadh to the southwestern city of Khamis Mushayt, was carrying 15 Indians, eight Saudis, seven Pakistanis, four Bangladeshis, two Yemenis, two Syrians and one Egyptian. The bus caught fire, trapping many passengers inside.

Balakrishnan Jayachandran, a 47-year-old Keralite survivor of the accident, told Arab News by phone that he escaped the burning bus by being pushed by the passengers behind him who were also escaping through the same door.

“I woke up to the scream of other passengers and managed to get out of the burning bus,” he said, adding that he saw several charred bodies being removed from the bus after the fire was extinguished by the Civil Defense crew.

The bodies were taken to local hospitals in Sulay, Aflaj and Wadi Dawasir. Injured passengers were taken to hospital in Sulay. Officials identified the 17 survivors as eight Indians, three Saudis, three Pakistanis, two Bangladeshis and a Syrian.

The Saudis who were on board during the accident were identified as Alia Hussein, Absi Zabrel, Abdullah Zafeer Al-Asmari, Hassan Al-Hussein Al-Zabar Al-Eid, Hassan Al Eisa, Saeed Misfer Al Hamad, Mohamed Ibrahim and Mohammed Abdullah. “All 17 patients in the hospital are in stable condition,” said an official from the hospital. Two of the survivors are still in intensive care, but their condition is stable. The Indian and Bangladeshi missions in Riyadh confirmed on Wednesday evening that they had dispatched representatives to look after the interests of their countrymen.

“The team will look after the interests of the survivors as well those who were killed in the tragedy,” said Rajiv Shahare, deputy chief of the Indian Embassy.

The Bangladesh Embassy’s Labor Counselor Harun Ar-Rashid said his team would assist the survivors and help government officials process the formalities of the dead for burial.

The bus had left the terminus in Riyadh’s Aziziyah district at 11 p.m. on Tuesday.