Civil Defense teams used metal cutters to retrieve bodies and rescue injured passengers trapped inside the mangled vehicle.

In another accident in the north of Madinah, a male teacher died on Saturday morning after being hit by a car while getting out of his car close to his school. The man’s body was taken to King Fahd Hospital in Madinah.

Meanwhile, Marwan Suleiman, supervisor of the School Transport Project for Girls in Makkah province, said the project does not cover women teachers who mainly use private transport.

“However, studies are currently under way to extend the service to women as well,” he said.

He said the project is currently operating in eight regions of the Kingdom, including Tabuk, Jazan and Najran where some 35,000 students are benefiting from it. A total of 535,000 students travel using school vehicles, he added.