The accident took place while the pilgrims were traveling to Makkah for Haj.
The bus driver said he parked the vehicle on the side of the expressway when he saw intense smoke billowing out of it.
“All pilgrims were asked to get out of the bus but he could not make sure whether all had got out because of intense smoke,” he said.
One of the passers by informed the Civil Defense Department, which immediately sent two teams of firefighters and first-aid men to the site but because of the traffic, Civil Defense vehicles could not reach the site quickly.
The fire engulfed the bus after the vehicle’s fuel tank exploded. Traffic police officers directed vehicles passing by away from the burning bus.
Arab News was present at the site since the start of the incident and saw the bus being completely burned out. The passengers were taken to a secure place.
“The driver told us that there were no passengers inside the bus but people gathered around it said two people — a man and woman — were trapped inside and one pilgrim, weeping and wailing, said his mother was still inside,” one witness said.
Despite the huge crowd following the blockage of traffic along the expressway, the Civil Defense firefighters put out the fire. The fire was intense inside the bus because of the seats and also on the roof due to the baggage.
While the Civil Defense officers continued their efforts to extinguish the fire one of the tires blew creating panic among the watchers, but this did not prevent them from using their cell phones to capture the image of the incident. Security officers repeatedly asked them to stay away to facilitate firefighting efforts.
Civil Defense officers later retrieved two bodies from the bus, but could not confirm their nationalities. The two bodies have been taken to the mortuary of King Fahd Hospital.
Lt. Col. Abdullah Al-Amri, spokesman of Civil Defense in Makkah province, told Arab News that there were 31 people inside the bus, including the driver.
“Except for the two deaths, no other pilgrims died or was injured in the incident,” Al-Amri said, adding that the case has been passed on to Jeddah traffic police, who will investigate the cause of the fire.
