Saudi road accident victims buried in Madinah

Abu Dhabi/Fujairah: Twenty-three Kyrgyz pilgrims who died in a road accident in Saudi Arabia on Friday have been buried in Madinah, officials from the Red Crescent Authority and the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Awqaf confirmed yesterday.

According to the officials, their burial in Madinah was arranged by Saudi authorities in coordination with Kyrgyz authorities as per the wishes of their relatives back home.

The 49 pilgrims, were on their way from Saudi Arabia to UAE when their bus met with a head-on collision with another bus coming from the opposite direction. The accident, which happened about five kilometres from UAE's Ghuwaifat border post near Al Bathah inside Saudi territory, killed 24, including the Syrian driver, and injured 25 other pilgrims.

The pilgrims were part of a group of 120 Kyrgyz nationals who came to the UAE from Kyrgyzstan on December 19 to proceed to Saudi Arabia for Haj. They came on a chartered flight at Fujairah Airport from Kyrgyz city of Osh, 600km from the capital Bishkek on Uzbek border.

They left Fujairah for Saudi Arabia on December 21 in a caravan of three buses.

Maqsouda Tishabayov, one of the pilgrims in the group, said the accident happened at dawn on Friday due to extremely poor visibility caused by heavy fog.

She was in another bus which was following the ill-fated bus towards UAE.

"The bus that met with the accident had left ahead of the other two buses we were travelling in. As we reached the scene, we could see blinking lights of police vehicles and other vehicles through the thick fog. "We had no idea the bus involved in the accident was part of our caravan of buses. When we were told it was one of our buses, we were shocked. We saw the badly mangled bus. It is a miracle that some people survived such a horrible accident," she said.

Tishabayov and 70 other Kyrgyz in the group have been lodged at Al Mafraq Hotel, where they are being provided all necessary support, including counselling.

The 25 injured and other pilgrims are still in Saudi Arabia and will be brought to UAE as soon as they recover.

Dr Khalid Al Mazroui, General Manager of Fujairah Airport, said most of the Kyrgyz pilgrims have already returned home on 17 flights, and the 18th will carry injured victims.