Around 29 students from an elementary school in Najran were injured when their bus collided with another vehicle, said Brig. Gen. Ali Al-Hateila, traffic director in Najran.

Three of the students had sustained fractures to the pelvis and neck and cuts to their abdomens, while the bus driver and the driver of the other vehicle were transferred to King Khalid hospital in Najran by the Red Crescent.

Medical sources said the hospital declared an emergency standby for the casualties.

Ali Mohammad Al-Suleiman, school principal, said the school was provided with four buses to transport the students, but that they were rickety.

“The buses were old and unsafe, especially since more than 45 children were cramped onto a 25-seater,” he said.

School staff had requested the authorities to provide them with new buses and construct speed breakers in front of the school to no avail.

He said the injured children were taken to King Khalid Hospital in private cars, in addition to ambulances.

Hamad Fattan, a parent, deplored the decrepit buses and wondered if Najran would ever get a share in the huge educational initiatives taken up by the government. “For months, we have been demanding new buses and speed breakers since the road in front of the school is a highway, but nothing has been done,” he said.

Several parents have called on the Ministry of Education to provide safer transport methods.

In a recent incident, three girls at the University of Al-Baha were knocked unconscious after their bus swerved off the road and crashed into a mountain following a technical fault.

Security and traffic patrols were dispatched to the scene.

Rescue teams included 25 individuals from the Al-Baha’s emergency forces, 15 paramedics from the Red Crescent and Civil Defense personnel.

The injured girls were taken to King Fahd Hospital in Al-Baha, while the rest of the girls were evacuated from the vehicle.

A source at the traffic department said recklessness and rocky road conditions were also to blame for the accident.