TABUK, 10 June 2003 — Speeding and the driver’s fatigue were to blame for Saturday’s bus accident here that killed 15 Egyptians and injured 36 others, security sources told Arab News, citing results of the preliminary investigation.
The accident took place on the Tabuk-Madinah Road on Saturday morning as the passenger bus carrying 49 Egyptians collided with a truck. At least two passengers were in serious condition.
Egyptian Consul Ahmad Fouad Al-Badawi said the crash happened at 6.30 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) in the town of Qalaiba, some 200 km south of the Saudi-Jordanian border.
The bus was heading for Riyadh, Al-Badawi said in a statement released by the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah.
Two of the 26 injured admitted to King Khaled Hospital in Tabuk were in intensive care.
Tabuk Governor Prince Fahd ibn Sultan visited the injured in hospital and expressed his condolences over the death of those killed. He was accompanied by Egyptian Consul Fathi Khomais.
Maj. Gen. Nasser Al-Arfaj, director of police in the Tabuk region, said the accident was not a head-on collision as the truck hit a side of the bus killing the passengers sitting on that side.
Local newspapers yesterday carried the names of both the dead and injured people in the accident.
Khaleel Al-Sayyed, 45, the Egyptian driver, said he was bringing the passengers from Aqaba.
“The journey started at 5 p.m. on Friday and reached the Kingdom at 1.30 a.m.,” he said.
Al-Sayyed pointed out that he had no assistants to help him drive during the long journey.
The truck driver was an Indian.
Egyptian officials have been sent to the crash scene to identify the 15 dead.
Tabuk residents hosted a number of children who escaped unhurt and accommodated them at a hotel in the city.
Hassan Al-Swat, a Tabuk resident, told Arab News that his friends had provided all possible care to the injured.
Amr Yousuf, 9, said he did not know what had happened to his mother and father. He also did not know anything about what had happened to the bus as he was sleeping at the time of the accident.
Muhammad Mustafa said most of the passengers on the bus were women and children.
Aamal Ahmad, 37, said she had lost her three-year-old son.
“He was a gift from God and He has taken him away from me, and I don’t have any objection to this Divine decree,” she said, weeping.
Muneera Al-Sayyed, 40, also lost one of her sons, 12-year-old Kareem Adel. Another son, Muhammad, 14, is in the intensive care.
“I can smell Muhammad’s blood on my abaya. I pray for his speedy recovery,” she said.
Col. Muhammad Al-Otaibi, director of traffic in the region, said 24 injured passengers have already left hospital after receiving necessary treatment.
Road accidents due to speeding are frequent in the Kingdom. Official figures say more than 35,000 people were killed and 200,000 injured in vehicle accidents during the last decade.
