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SL pilgrim couple killed in Jeddah crash

14 Oct 2011 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Two Sri Lankan pilgrims died in a road accident when their speeding vehicle overturned on the Makkah–Jeddah highway on Wednesday night, the Sri Lankan Consulate General in Jeddah said on Thursday.

Abdul Wahid Abdul Jawad, 47, and wife Abdul Haleem Shamsunissa, 42, died instantly after they flew out of the vehicle four kilometres outside Jeddah.

Adam Bawa Uthuma Lebbe, the Sri Lankan Consul General, told Arab News that the Sri Lankan couple who had come for Haj from Galagedera, a suburb 10 kilometres way from the Sri Lankan hill city of Kandy, had got into a van to reach Jeddah from Makkah.

Another Sri Lankan couple who were travelling in the same van escaped with minor injuries. “The accident occurred when one of the vehicles tires burst,” Lebbe said.

Quoting eyewitnesses, the consul general said the vehicle tipped over at least 12 times because of the high speed it was travelling at.

Other passengers in the vehicle were also foreign pilgrims coming to Jeddah to see friends and relatives. Some of them are still receiving treatment at King Abdulaziz Hospital in Jeddah.

The victims’ bodies are at the morgue. “We are making arrangements to bury them in Makkah on Thursday evening,” Lebbe said, adding that he obtained permission from the victims’ next of kin to have them buried in the Kingdom.

Abdul Hameed Mohamed Fowzie, the minister in charge of Haj affairs, offered his condolences to the bereaved family.

So far around 2,000 out of the 3,800 Sri Lankan pilgrims have arrived in the holy cities. (Souce: Arab News)

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SL pilgrim couple killed in Jeddah crash

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