Bus crashed with tanker; pilgrims killed

Umrah pilgrimage a smaller Islamic journey than the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Unlike Hajj, there is no fixed time of year when Muslims have to perform Umrah and it is not considered compulsory. Some Muslims refer to it as the “lesser” or “minor” pilgrimage.

In Arabic, Umrah means to visit a populated place.

Four British pilgrims were killed and 12 others injured in Saudi Arabia when their bus collided with a fuel tanker, officials said on Sunday.

The crash occurred on Saturday near the western Saudi town of Al Khalas while the pilgrims were on their way to Makkah for an Umrah pilgrimage.

The bus crashed with a fuel tanker, according to a travel company. The truck then caught fire, setting the bus alight, it said.

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 “The royal embassy of Saudi Arabia in London is working with (Britain’s) Foreign Office to issue emergency visas immediately to both the relatives of the four pilgrims who died as well as to families of the 12 British pilgrims who were injured,” the embassy said in a statement.

“The injured have been taken to a hospital in Mecca where everything possible is being done to care for them.”

The statement said 17 British pilgrims were aboard the bus.

“My sincere sympathies and thoughts are with the families of the four British pilgrims who tragically died in a coach crash in the kingdom on Saturday and for the pilgrims who were injured,” Saudi ambassador to Britain, Mohammad Bin Nawaf, tweeted.

“Our prayers are with these families at this tragic time.”

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In a brief statement, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office said: “We are supporting the British families of those who have died and those injured following a serious road traffic accident”.

Every year, millions of Muslims flock to Makkah to carry out the annual haj pilgrimage.

In January 2017, a two-month-old baby was among six British nationals killed in a road accident in Saudi Arabia while they were traveling to Medina, according to British officials.

In 2015, around 2,300 worshippers performing haj were crushed to death in a stampede, in the worst disaster ever to strike the annual pilgrimage.