JEDDAH, 8 January 2004 — A Pakistani Haj pilgrim was killed and 10 were injured when the bus they were traveling on overturned 15 km away from Makkah yesterday.
The dead has been identified as Amna Siddique of Muzaffarabad. The injured have been hospitalized in Makkah — five each at the King Abdul Aziz Hospital and the Pakistan House Dispensary. “All the injured are being treated and recovering,” Baharullah Hazarvi, Pakistan’s director of Haj, told Arab News last night.
He said the bus started from Madinah shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The bus overturned 15 km away from Makkah. “Its driver apparently lost control,” Hazarvi said.
This was the second accident involving Pakistani Haj pilgrims in three days. Four pilgrims were killed and 36 injured when a bus transporting them from Makkah to Madinah met with an accident some 65 km away from Madinah on Sunday night.
Hazarvi said in the latest accident, five of the 10 injured received first aid and moved to the Pakistan House Dispensary in Makkah; the other five remain at the Heraa Hospital.
Those at the King Abdul Aziz Hospital include: Khanum Bibi, wife of Abdul Rahman Mir of Muzaffarabad; Malik Muhammad Afzal, son of Malik Muhammad Yousuf of Rawalpindi; Zohra Bibi, wife of Muhammad Iqbal of Muzaffarabad; and Ayesha Bibi, wife of Muhammad Iqbal.
Those who received first aid at the Heraa Hospital include Irshad Begum, wife of Muhammad Boota of Rawalpindi; Rozina Manzour, Javed Iqbal, Khwaja Muhammad Iqbal, Ferozdeen Choudhary and Rabia Bibi.
