Seven girls and a teacher were killed when a bus of the International Indian School, Jeddah swerved off the road and slammed into a concrete post.
Fifteen other girls and a teacher were injured. The driver of the 30-seater bus, Habibur Rahman, whose two daughters were among the dead, has been arrested. The bus was on its way from Makkah to Jeddah yesterday when it met with the accident.
The dead girls were identified as Rosana Ghafaar, Roshmina Ghafaar, Oshima M, Reshma Zakir Hussain, Shireen Basheer, Haifa Habibur Rahman and Harsha Habibur Rahman. The teacher was identified as Ruby Parveen. Those injured were taken to the King Abdul Aziz Medical City.
Six of the girls who died in the mishap are from Kerala's Malappuram and Kannoor districts. One girl was from Tamil Nadu.
The school remained closed today as a mark of respect to the dead who will be buried in Makkah after a condolence meeting at Afrah Khogeer Hall in the holy city.
Eyewitnesses said the bus, travelling from Makkah with two teachers and 22 girls on board, swerved to the right and hit one of the concrete pillars supporting a hoarding along the Makkah express highway.
"It appears to be a case of human error," Consul General Syed Akbaruddin told Arab News, dismissing initial reports that a burst tire caused the accident.
"The vehicle is so badly damaged that it is a wonder that some passengers survived," he said.
Hanan Habibur Rahman, one of the driver's children, who was also on the bus, is recovering in Al-Thagr Hospital.
She said that, like most of the other girls, she was sleeping at the time. Students usually sleep through the journey as they have to get up early to catch the bus.
The school said the driver's track record till the mishap has been "excellent".
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