Dozens of religious pilgrims from India feared dead in Saudi bus accident

Dozens of Indian pilgrims are feared dead after a bus was in collision with a diesel tanker on Monday near the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia, Indian officials said.

The bus, with 46 people onboard, was travelling from Mecca to Medina when the incident happened on a highway, said Gaurav Uppal, a senior official of Telangana state, told The Associated Press.

“Around 45 people from Telangana are feared dead in the accident, while one person is injured,” said Uppal, who is based out of New Delhi and is involved with co-ordinating rescue efforts with Indian authorities in Saudi.

Relatives of the victims gathered outside the office of the Fly Zone travel agency in Hyderabad, Telangana’s state capital, seeking information about their family members.

Mohammed Tehseen said seven members of his family were on the bus, and all but one had died. The injured survivor had “called after the accident to inform us about the tragedy,” he said.

Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

India PM Modi expresses condolences

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Telangana’s highest-elected official, Revanth Reddy, offered condolences to the bereaved families.

In a post on X, Jaishankar said the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah were offering support to the relatives of the victims.

Vishwanath Channappa Sajjanar, the police chief of Hyderabad, said preliminary reports suggest that at least 18 of the deceased were from the city. He said most of the victims were from two families, and identified the injured passenger as Mohammed Shoaib.

“I spoke to the Consul General of India and got the details,” Sajjanar told a news conference. “There were 46 people in the bus and one passenger survived with injuries.”

Police were in contact with the travel agency through which the pilgrims had travelled to Saudi Arabia, Sajjanar said.