A six-year-old girl who had come with her family from Japan to perform the Umrah pilgrimage died in a road accident near Qassim last week. The victim had traveled with her parents from Tokyo to Riyadh to meet their relatives and was on the way to Makkah from Riyadh.

Sri Lankan Embassy sources said the mission gave clearance for her burial in Qassim. The girl’s mother is still being treated at the King Fahd Hospital in Buraidah.

Fatimah, who is to undergo surgery, was accompanied by her husband, Mohammed, and her three children at the time of the accident.

The Sri Lankan family, which lives in Japan, had traveled on a SAPTCO bus to Riyadh from Madinah via Qassim, some 350 km from the capital.

SAPTCO officials are taking care of the family. Passengers traveling on board the coach are insured and their medical expenses covered in the event of an accident, said one official.

A Saudi court had ruled that five Sri Lankans who died in a SAPTCO bus accident in June 2009 be paid SR100,000 each.

The verdict ordering compensation for the families of the victims was issued by Khaled Al-Jasser, a judge at the Riyadh General Court.

The victims had burned to death as the bus caught fire after crashing into a truck. The accident had taken place about 30 km east of Riyadh.

The crash was caused by a heavy sandstorm that had reduced visibility considerably. The incident took place at 8:30 p.m., an hour after the bus, carrying 19 passengers, including the driver and his assistant, departed from the main bus terminal in Azizia.