Crashed Saudi bus logbook has record of nine Bangladeshi passengers: Ambassador Moshi

Nine Bangladeshis were on the bus that crashed in Madinah on Thursday, the Bangladesh ambassador in Saudi Arabia said citing logbook.

The Bangladesh embassy in the Gulf kingdom was not sure whether all the nine Bangladeshi passengers were on the bus when it crashed, Ambassador Golam Moshi told bdnews24.com.

“Some passengers got down and new passengers got on. So it’s not sure whether nine Bangladeshis are among the deaths,” he said, adding that “only DNA test can confirm the nationality of the deceased.”

“The bus logbook just maintained first name and country of the passengers. They did not write down their Iqama number or ID,” he said.

The double-decker bus of Dar Al-Meqat Umrah agency based in Riyadh carried 50 people to Madinah.

It caught fire after hitting a heavy vehicle used for road repair while returning to Makkah from Madinah with 39 on board on Wednesday.

Thirty-five foreigners were killed and four others were injured in the crash.

The bodies were so charred after the bus caught fire that it became difficult to identify them, Consul General of Bangladesh in Jeddah FM Borhan Uddin told bdnews24.com on Friday night.

Officials at the consulate said they had been told that 13 Bangladeshis were among the passengers when the journey started and some of them got off on the way.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen expressed condolences over the loss of lives and injuries in a message to his Saudi counterpart Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf.