Six die as two buses collide

Six people, including four Omani passengers - two men and two women - were killed and another 52 injured in a road accident involving two passenger buses near Salalah, the venue of the Khareef Festival which is growing in popularity every year.

The driver of one of the buses, a 45-seater coach belonging to Oriental Falcon Tours, Ismail Haneefa (38), a Keralite, and a Pakistani whose identity has not been established, were also killed.

An official at the Dhofar Governorate Police Headquarters said the accident occured on Tuesday on Al Aqabat slope on the highway to Salalah, when one of the buses, coming from Muscat ran into the back of the other one, making it swerve and topple into a wadi.

He said a Royal Oman Police team arrived immediately with ambulances and rushed the injured to the Sultan Qaboos Hospital and Umm Al Ghawarif Military Hospital in Salalah.