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fool proof
22 Apr 18 18:46
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Date Joined: 09 Aug 10
| Topic/replies: 1,747 | Blogger: fool proof's blog
On a pilgrimage to Mecca the bus they were travelling in collided with a fuel tanker

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43858389

Four British people have died and 12 others have been hurt in a coach crash in Saudi Arabia, a travel firm says.

Those killed were from Blackburn and Preston, in Lancashire, travelling from Mecca on an Umrah pilgrimage.

Blackburn-based Hashim Travel said the coach was hit by a fuel tanker which then caught fire and set the bus alight on Saturday.

The Foreign Office says it is aware British nationals have been killed in an accident in Saudi Arabia.

The travel firm said relatives of those who have died - a man, a woman and a mother and son - had been informed.

It is understood that a young child is among the injured.

The Council of British Hajjis said it was providing support to a British family which had been affected.

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Abdul Hamid Qureshi, chairman of Lancashire Council of Mosques said: "This is a very sad incident. Our prayers and thoughts are with the deceased and their families."

The group were travelling as part of an Umrah pilgrimage.

The crash happened near the start of the group's five-hour road trip from Mecca to Medina, near the town of Al Khalas.

The Umrah pilgrimage is on a smaller scale than the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Hashim Travel says it specialises in Umrah and Hajj and has been providing travel packages to people in north-west England for 15 years.

Hashim Travel director, Gulfraz Zaman, called the incident "horrendous" and "very distressing".

"Our thoughts are with the families," he added.

Passengers on the bus were from Accrington, Preston, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Northampton and Blackburn.

"We are supporting the British families of those who have died and those injured following a serious road traffic accident near the town of Al Khalas, Saudi Arabia," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

What is the Umrah?
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that takes place in the month of Dhul Hijjah, which is the twelfth month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

The Umrah is an extra, optional pilgrimage and does not count as the once-in-a-lifetime Hajj.

Although it includes some of the rituals of the Hajj, they are shortened and there are fewer of them.

Unlike Hajj, it is not obligatory and can take place at any time of the year.
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Report twizzle22 April 22, 2018 6:59 PM BST
Doubt that when the names are released their will be any Smith & Jones's
Report DenzilPenberthy April 22, 2018 9:43 PM BST
On a brighter note 280 virgins are eagerly awaiting deflouring in Jannah DevilWink
Report Lady Faye Verrit April 23, 2018 8:47 AM BST
I think getting killed is all part of the experience!

Are there not usually hundreds killed in the stampedes etc?

They all love it; beating themselves about the head with rocks, and bleeding profusely, as the dead are carried aloft to the funeral pyres,
and the women with their much practised anguish and wailing!

Allahu akbar.....
Report lybertyne April 23, 2018 11:08 AM BST
Big difference between being British and being English, Welsh, Scottish or (Northern) Irish.
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