Abdul Wahid Abdul Jawad, 47, and wife Abdul Haleem Shamsunissa, 42, died instantly after they flew out of the vehicle four kilometers outside Jeddah.
Adam Bawa Uthuma Lebbe, Sri Lankan consul general, told Arab News that the Sri Lankan couple who had come for Haj from Galagedera, a suburb 10 km away from the Sri Lankan hill city of Kandy, had got into a van to reach Jeddah from Makkah.
Another Sri Lankan couple who were traveling in the same van escaped with minor injuries. “The accident occurred when one of the vehicle’s tires burst,” Lebbe said.
Quoting eyewitnesses, the consul general said the vehicle tipped over at least 12 times because of the high speed it was traveling at.
Other passengers in the vehicle were also foreign pilgrims coming to Jeddah to see friends and relatives. Some of them are still receiving treatment at King Abdulaziz Hospital in Jeddah.
The victims’ bodies are at the morgue. “We are making arrangements to bury them in Makkah on Thursday evening,” Lebbe said, adding that he obtained permission from the victims’ next of kin to have them buried in the Kingdom.
Abdul Hameed Mohamed Fowzie, minister in charge of Haj affairs, offered his condolences to the bereaved family.
So far around 2,000 out of the 3,800 Sri Lankan pilgrims have arrived in the holy cities.
