Saudi road crash kills 3 Bangladeshis
At least three Bangladeshi migrant workers were killed and six were injured as their vehicle overturned on a mountainous road in Al-Bahah province in Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening.
The Bangladeshis have been identified as Saiful Islam, son of Abul Bashar of Samirkhil village of Nangalkot upazila, Comilla, Malam Mia, son of Oli Mia of Pahariakandi village of Bancharampur upazila, Brahmanbaria, and Alal Uddin, son of Chan Mia of Panchakandi village of Monohardi upazila, Narsingdi, according to the Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah.
Sources at the Consulate General said the accident took place around 5:30pm local time in Akaba area of Beljurashi city.
On information, officials of the Consulate General immediately took steps and gathered required information from the local traffic department and community people.
The accident also left four Egyptians and two Indians dead, they added.
The incident took place barely two weeks after seven Bangladeshi workers were killed in another road crash in Jizan province of the oil rich country on January 6.
Alal, 30, of Narsingdi had been living in Saudi Arabia for four years, said his relative Bakul Sarkar. Alal came home in November 2017, got married and left for Saudi Arabia early this month, Bakul told our Narsingdi correspondent yesterday.
Second among six siblings, Alal was the bread earner for his family, Bakul further said.
Jeddah-based English daily Saudi Gazette reports that the incident left six workers injured without mentioning their details.
The report says the migrant workers belong to a catering company that supplies food to patients in Baljurashi hospital in the southwestern Al-Bahah. They were going to the coastal Qunfudah city to spend their day-off when the accident occurred.
They opted to take the mountainous route apparently due to time constraint, it adds.
Saudi Red Crescent authorities along with the Ministry of Health and Civil Defence emergency teams rushed to the site of the accident and shifted the injured to Prince Mishari Hospital in Baljurashi.
Saiful Islam, 27, eldest son of two sons and one daughter of Abul Bashar and Rahima Begum, went to Saudi Arabia five years ago, reports our correspondent in Comilla.
His maternal uncle Haytunabi said his father is a farmer, whose financial condition is not well as Saiful had to manage about Tk 5.5 lakh to go to Saudi Arabia by selling their farmland five years ago.
Earlier on January 6, at least seven Bangladeshi migrant workers were killed and 15 others injured in a road crash in Jizan province of Saudi Arabia.
The accident occurred when a vehicle hit a truck from behind in Shanta area of Jizan. The truck was carrying 22 Bangladeshis, among other nationals, who were on their way to work.