4 Britons on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia killed in bus crash

LONDON – Four Britons on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia were killed Saturday in a bus crash, a British travel company and officials said.

The four were among more than a dozen British pilgrims on a bus travelling from Mecca to Medina, said Hashim Travel, a British company specializing in pilgrimage tours.

The Saudi Arabian Embassy in London said the accident involved the bus the passengers who died were riding in, a small car and a gasoline tanker truck. Twelve other British pilgrims were injured, and they have been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, the embassy said in a statement.

Britain’s Foreign Office called the collision near the town of Al Khalas in west Saudi Arabia a “serious road traffic accident.” It said in a statement it was working to assist families of the people killed and injured. It didn’t give further details.

Officials say the British visitors were on an Umrah pilgrimage, a smaller version of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.