Seven British-Pakistani nationals were killed and several more injured in a road crash in Saudi Arabia, Britain's foreign ministry informed on Thursday.
"We are supporting the families of six British people who have sadly died following a road accident in Saudi Arabia," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
"We are also helping several more British nationals who were injured in the crash," she said, without specifying how many.
Glasgow Central Mosque released a statement naming two of the victims as Glasgow couple Mohammad Aslam and Mrs Talat Aslam, who have five children, saying they had just completed Umrah and were travelling in a minibus to Medina.
Meanwhile, the names of deceased hailing from Manchester were identified as: Mrs Rabia Ahmed, Mr Khurshid Ahmed and a two-month-year old toddler, Muhammad Azan Anas.
“We are all shocked and extremely saddened by this tragic incident and on behalf of the British Muslim community, we would like to send our condolences and deepest sympathies to the families, relatives and friends of the deceased pilgrims. It is highly regrettable that a substantial number of innocent pilgrims are losing their lives in such terrible circumstances which can be prevented” said Khalid Pervez, General Secretary of the Association of British Hujjaj (Pilgrims) UK.”
The journey of over 300 km between Makkah to Madinah takes more than 5 hours. The long distance driving in hot weather and lack of sleep and rest of the drivers can be lethal. These are considered as contributing factors of the tragic road accidents in the recent years in which a large number of pilgrims have lost their lives.
Association of British Hujjaj (Pilgrims) UK strongly urges the relevant authorities in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take emergency measures to prevent the loss of innocent pilgrims' lives. Every effort should be made to make this journey safer for pilgrims by addressing the real cause of these tragic road accidents.
