Mohammed Abdul Shoaib (centre), the lone survivor of the bus accident in Saudi Arabia’s Madina, with his family at his residence, in Hyderabad. (Picture credit: PTI)
NEW DELHI: The only survivor of the November 17 Umrah bus accident in Saudi Arabia returned to India on Tuesday and described the moments before the vehicle went up in flames, killing 45 other passengers. Mohammed Abdul Shoaib said the bus was travelling towards Madinah when a passenger asked the driver to stop for a toilet break. “As the driver stopped the bus, it was struck from behind by a tanker,” he said, as per ANI.Shoaib recalled that the driver escaped through a window immediately after the crash and “didn’t try to help any of the passengers”. As the fire spread rapidly, Shoaib managed to climb out of the same window, but his clothes had already caught fire. “There were 46 passengers on the bus, including me. Everyone else died,” he said, adding that his father, mother and maternal grandfather were among the victims. “I have no support left now. That is why I request the Telangana government to give me a government job,” he appealed.The group was part of a 54-member team that had flown from Hyderabad on November 9. Eighteen members of one extended family were among the dead. Shoaib survived only because he was seated beside the driver when the bus collided with the fuel tanker and burst into flames around 1.30 am.His brother, Mohammed Sameer, had said that he survived only because a visa delay kept him from travelling with the rest of the family. Sameer, who later reached Saudi Arabia and spoke to his injured brother in hospital, said Shoaib had “seen our parents being charred to death right in front of him”.The Telangana government has announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia for the families of the dead and will send a team led by Minorities Welfare Minister Mohammed Azharuddin to coordinate relief.Saudi authorities have begun investigating the crash, which happened about 25 km short of the group’s destination.