Muscat: A driver dozed off at the wheel causing a fatal accident that killed four Bangladeshis near Birka roundabout about 100-km north to Muscat.
"All the five were travelling back to Sohar after picking up a friend who arrived in the early hours of Monday," Rabi-ul-Islam, Labour Counsellor with the Bangladesh Embassy in Muscat, told Gulf News Tuesday.
He added that social workers from the community were coordinating the process of ensuring the bodies of the deceased are sent back. "We at the embassy help them coordinate the process and Biman Air will fly bodies free of charge," he added.
He pointed out that the community was following up the procedure to ensure a speedy repatriation of the bodies. "All the four deceased have no relatives here in Oman'' he added.
Ganesh Chandra Das, Khokon Chandra Das and Mamun were among the four dead. "We are yet to establish the identity of the fourth person killed in the accident," he said.
According to a statement released by the police, the four were travelling towards Sohar when the accident took place. "The driver fell asleep at the wheel and the vehicle went off road before hitting a stationary truck," a police spokesperson said.
One injured person was taken to a nearby hospital in a critical condition.
Meanwhile, three Omanis were also killed in an accident in Maqsha in the Central region of the country on Monday.
The police have advised motorists to take proper rest, especially while on a long drive and during night driving to avoid accidents.
Thirty-one people were killed and 215 injured in 156 traffic accidents across Oman last week.
