Relatives of some of the 45 Indian pilgrims killed when a diesel tanker crashed into a bus in Saudi Arabia are travelling to the kingdom to pay their final respects before burial.
Indian officials said family members were travelling to Madinah from their hometown of Hyderabad in southern India after the fatal accident.
Mohammad Munir Ahmed lost 18 members of his family in the crash. Speaking to The National from Hyderabad, he said: “There is no end to our sadness, no end to the pain we are feeling. There are really no words.”
Mr Ahmed lost his uncle, aunt, cousins, nephews and nieces from the Naseeruddin family in the crash that happened on Monday when the group of 46 Umrah pilgrims was travelling from Makkah to Madinah.
“There were nine children and nine adults – we lost them all," he said. "My uncle and aunt’s entire family – daughters, son, grandchildren – were in that bus, except their elder son Siraj who lives in the US. Even Siraj’s family – his three young children and wife – were on that bus, they all are no more.”
Final farewell
Mr Ahmed spoke to his aunt and uncle before they left Makkah on the final leg of their journey.
“They were all happy. They had completed one week in Makkah and everything was going well. They were looking forward to reaching Madinah,” he said.
“When the plans first began, only a few people were to travel to Saudi Arabia. Then more joined in, everyone thought 'the elders are going, so let us join because it's good to travel together and pray together as a family'. Who could imagine this would happen?”
Mr Ahmed was among those who said goodbye to the large group of travellers at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on November 9. He is now among a group of 38 relatives of the deceased who are leaving India late on Tuesday to pay their last respects in Madinah.
“Just before they left, they stood – all 18 of them – for a picture at the airport,” he said. "That’s all we have now. Everyone is crying, the women in our family cannot stop crying. There will never be an end to our grief."
Friends and neighbours in Hyderabad said they were also in mourning. “We are all in shock,” said Dr Mohammed Minhaj Ahmed, the Naseeruddin family's dentist. “Naseer bhai [brother] was my patient for years and most of his relatives also were regulars at my practice. It is unthinkable for so many from one family to get taken away at one time. People are crying and mourning outside their homes.”
UAE driver among victims
Of the 46 people on board, passenger Abdul Shoeb Mohammed was the only survivor after managing to break a window to escape. He is being treated for serious injuries in a hospital in Madinah.
Forty-four passengers of the dead were from Hyderabad, and one was from Karnataka, a southern Indian state. Among those killed was the bus driver, Abdul Shirhatti from the UAE.
Mr Shirhatti had worked as a driver in the UAE for more than two decades and had left for Umrah on November 9, his brother told India’s ANI news agency.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among government officials to offer their condolences and support to the bereaved families.
Mohammad Azharuddin, Telangana state minorities welfare minister, said DNA testing may be required to identify some bodies
“We are full of sadness about this tragedy,” Mr Azharuddin said on Tuesday. “It was a terrible accident. I cannot imagine the grief of the family where 18 people died. The burials will take place in Saudi but if anyone prefers to bring the bodies to India, we will make arrangements to support them.”
The Indian consulate in Jeddah has posted helpline numbers on social media platform X and set up an office in the Indian Hajj pilgrimage office in Madinah to assist families.
