Dozens killed as Saudi bus crashes in Yemen

Reports say 34 dead after vehicle coming from Jeddah collided with minibus

The wreckage of the bus after it burst into flames in Abyan, Yemen. Reuters

Dozens of people are feared dead after a bus from Saudi Arabia crashed and caught fire in Yemen.

The bus, travelling from the Saudi city of Jeddah to Yemen's southern port city of Aden, collided head-on with a minibus in a mountainous area in Abyan province, local media said.

Both vehicles caught fire due to the force of the collision, killing at least 31 people on the bus and three others on the minibus, one report said.

Thirteen passengers managed to escape after they smashed the windows, but they suffered serious burns and were taken to hospital in Aden for treatment, according to the report.

Rashad Al Alimi, chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, held phone calls with the governor of Abyan and the health minister of Yemen's internationally recognised government to be updated on the latest developments of the accident, the official Saba news agency said.

He expressed his condolences over the tragedy and instructed the government, local authorities, and relevant agencies to provide full care for the injured.

Yemen plunged into civil war in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, forcing the internationally recognised government into exile.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened the following year in an attempt to restore the government. The war has been in a state of stalemate in recent years, and the rebels reached a deal with Saudi Arabia that stopped their attacks on the kingdom in return for ceasing the Saudi-led strikes on their territories.