Sole survivor of deadly bus crash in Saudi Arabia leapt from window to escape

Forty-five people were killed in a bus crash near the Saudi city of Madinah early on Monday, when a vehicle carrying Umrah pilgrims from India collided with a diesel tanker.

One of the 46 people on board the bus survived and is receiving treatment in hospital, VC Sajjanar, police commissioner of Hyderabad, told The National. Travel operators said the man, 24, is recovering.

“Abdul Shoeb Mohammed managed to break the window and jumped out of the bus. He is the only passenger to survive,” Shaik Ismail, a travel consultant with Al Makkah tour agency in Hyderabad, told The National. “He had serious injuries to his head, was being treated in the ICU and is improving.”

The Indian government said 45 people died after the bus collided with a diesel tanker.

Mr Sajjanar added that eight people from the tour group were safe – four stayed in Makkah and four decided to travel to Madinah by car. “The people who died are from Hyderabad and one is from Karnataka. They were travelling for Umrah and were from a group of 54 who had left Hyderabad on November 9," the added. "We are trying our best to reach out to families and to verify the details of all the passengers.”

Indian media reported that the bus caught fire after the crash. The dead included 20 women and 11 children, most from Hyderabad.

Saudi Arabia has not yet confirmed the death toll.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "deeply saddened" by the accident. "My thoughts are with the families who have lost their loved ones. I pray for the swift recovery of all those injured," he wrote on X.

He said the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah "are providing all possible assistance" to citizens. "Our officials are also in close contact with Saudi authorities," he added.

India's Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar, also expressed his condolences in a message on X. "Deeply shocked at the accident involving Indian nationals in Madinah, Saudi Arabia," he said in the post. "Our embassy in Riyadh and consulate in Jeddah are giving fullest support to Indian nationals and families affected by this accident."

Earlier this month, a bus crashed and caught fire while travelling from Saudi Arabia to Yemen. The bus, en route from Jeddah to Yemen's southern port city of Aden, collided head-on with a minibus in a mountainous area of Yemen's Abyan province.

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Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.

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Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
Al Towayya in Al Ain
NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
Bareen International Hospital
NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
Park in shaded or covered areas
Add tint to windows
Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
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Director: Jon M Chu

Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater

Rating: 4/5

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If you go

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Funchal via Lisbon, with a connecting flight with Air Portugal. Economy class returns cost from Dh3,845 return including taxes.

The trip

The WalkMe app can be downloaded from the usual sources. If you don’t fancy doing the trip yourself, then Explore offers an eight-day levada trails tour from Dh3,050, not including flights.

The hotel

There isn’t another hotel anywhere in Madeira that matches the history and luxury of the Belmond Reid's Palace in Funchal. Doubles from Dh1,400 per night including taxes.

TOUR RESULTS AND FIXTURES

June 3: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 Lions 13
June 7: Blues 22 Lions 16
June 10: Crusaders 3 Lions 12
June 13: Highlanders 23 Lions 22
June 17: Maori All Blacks 10 Lions 32
June 20: Chiefs 6 Lions 34
June 24: New Zealand 30 Lions 15
June 27: Hurricanes 31 Lions 31
July 1: New Zealand 21 Lions 24
July 8: New Zealand v Lions

FIXTURES

All times UAE ( 4 GMT)

Saturday
Fiorentina v Torino (8pm)
Hellas Verona v Roma (10.45pm)

Sunday
Parma v Napoli (2.30pm)
Genoa v Crotone (5pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (8pm)
Juventus v Sampdoria (10.45pm)

Monday
AC Milan v Bologna (10.45om)

Playing September 30

Benevento v Inter Milan (8pm)
Udinese v Spezia (8pm)
Lazio v Atalanta (10.45pm)

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