17 die in Jordan bus crash

Seventeen Palestinians die when their bus and a truck collide as they head home to Jenin from a pilgrimage in Mecca.

JENIN, Palestinian Territories // Seventeen Palestinians were killed on Saturday in a road accident in Jordan as they were heading home to Jenin from a pilgrimage in Mecca, the governor of the West Bank town said.

Jordanian emergency services earlier said 14 had died and 32 others wounded when their bus collided head-on with a truck in Jordan, as they were heading to the West Bank.

"Seventeen Palestinian pilgrims were killed. They were all from Jenin," the town's governor, Talal Dweikat, told AFP, warning that the toll could rise.

The passengers were heading home from the holy Saudi city of Mecca where they had performed the Muslim minor pilgrimage or omra when the accident happened.

Their bus was in the Adssiyeh region in southwest Jordan when it was involved in a head-on collision with a truck before turning over, Jordan's emergency services said, adding that the driver of the other vehicle was also killed.