20000101

16 pilgrims

killed in Saudi

bus accident

KUALA LUMPUR: A bus crash in Saudi Arabia which killed 16 Malaysian pilgrims and their Saudi driver was caused by a puncture, the official Bernama news agency reported.

It quoted Malaysia's consul-general in Medina, Syed Hussein Al-Habshi, as saying the flat tyre caused the bus to plunge into a 120-metre-deep ravine on Wednesday.

The accident happened on the motorway from Medina to Jeddah on the Red Sea coast. A civil defence helicopter helped the Red Crescent and traffic police recover the bodies from the bottom of the ravine, a Saudi newspaper reported.

Abdul Hamid Othman, Minster in the Prime Minister's Department, said the government would offer help to the families of the dead.

"We are very sad over the incident and express our condolences to the bereaved families," Bernama late on Thursday quoted him as saying.

Hamid said he had yet to receive the full details of the accident. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest road death rates in the world, mostly due to speeding, according to the transport ministry.

Nearly 565,000 people Ñ some 3.5 percent of the kingdom's population Ñ were either killed or injured on Saudi roads in 1997, the ministry reported.ÑAFP