RIYADH: A major road accident involving a SAPTCO bus and a truck on the Riyadh-Dammam highway resulted in 29 deaths, including that of a child, on Thursday night. Only 21 bodies were retrieved from the bus. The remaining eight passengers are presumed to have been burned to ashes.
The crash was caused due to a heavy sandstorm that had reduced the visibility considerably. The incident took place at 8.30 p.m., an hour after the bus, carrying 29 passengers, departed from the main bus terminal in Aziziyah.
According to police reports, a truck sideswiped the bus while overtaking it some 30 km from Riyadh. As a result, the bus caught fire and its electric doors became locked. The blaze was attended to by more than 15 fire engines, seven Saudi Red Crescent ambulances and dozens of highway police officers.
As per the passengers’ list there were five Sri Lankans, four Saudis, three Indians, one Pakistani, one Egyptian, one Bangladeshi and two Sudanese nationals among others in the bus.
Authorities at a Riyadh morgue said they were unable to identify the dead as the bodies were charred. “It will take some time to identify the individuals by going through the names listed in the passengers’ list,” a source said. The drivers of the bus and the truck survived the crash.
Workers at Al-Haitham Gas Station, located close to where the accident took place, told Arab News over the phone that the area was hit by a severe sandstorm. “Even the workers at the station remained indoors because of bad weather,” said a worker, adding that he saw only one person coming out of the burning bus. “He must have been the driver,” he added.
Mafrah Mohideen, an employee with Supreme Group, a local company, identified one of the victims as Mendis Appuhamy, 57, a Sri Lankan national who worked as a manager at the group’s hatchery in Hofuf. Appuhamy returned to the Kingdom three weeks ago after his annual vacation in Sri Lanka. “Appuhamy came to Riyadh to attend a farewell party given on Thursday afternoon to one of the senior mangers of the group. He was returning to his workplace after the party,” said Mohideen, who had seen him off at the bus terminal. Sabarullah Khan, deputy chief of mission at the Sri Lankan Embassy, who sent a team of officials to the city morgue yesterday, confirmed the death of five Sri Lankans in the accident. “We have got the passport numbers of the victims and we will be able to give the correct names later,” he said.
