18 members across three generations killed in Saudi bus tragedy

Hyderabad: A pall of gloom descended on a small bylane of Ram Nagar in Hyderabad's Vidyanagar as the Saudi road accident tragedy claimed 18 members of the same family—wiping out three generations—among the total 45 people killed.

The devastating accident in Saudi Arabia took the lives of an entire Hyderabad family who were on an Umrah pilgrimage. Among the dead were nine children.

The family had left for Saudi Arabia on November 9. Salauddin Shaik, 70, a retired Indian Railways employee who lived near the CPI state headquarters building in Vidyanagar, had gone on the Umrah pilgrimage with his wife, sons, daughters-in-law, daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren.

His extended family said Salauddin had three daughters and three sons. One son who lives in the US could not join them, while the remaining family members traveled to Saudi Arabia.

As almost the entire family had gone on the pilgrimage, no one was at home and the house remained locked.
As news of the tragedy spread, close relatives and members of Salauddin's extended family gathered at his home. The wailing of Salauddin's sisters, whose entire family had been wiped out, echoed through Ram Nagar.

Salauddin's nephew, Mohammed Aslam, described it as an unfortunate incident and demanded a thorough investigation into the accident, as well as into the travel agency that facilitated the pilgrims' travel to Saudi Arabia.