Saudi Arabia: 3 killed, 4 injured in Taif road crash

Cairo: Three people were killed and four others injured due to a road crash blamed on rainy weather in Taif in western Saudi Arabia.

The collision between two cars on a road linking Taif and Al Bahah in south-western Saudi Arabia occurred on Thursday at sunset, the time of iftar or ending the day-long fast in Ramadan, medics said.

The horrific accident was due to heavy rains in Taif.

The wounded in the accident sustained serious to medium injuries and were taken to local hospitals.

The Saudi National Centre for Meteorology has forecast rains in most areas of the kingdom until Sunday.

The alert has prompted civil defence authorities to call for “vigilance and caution” during the Muslim Eid Al Fitr feast, which began Friday in the kingdom.

In recent years, Saudi authorities have toughened penalties against traffic offences to reduce road crashes.

The annual cost of traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia is estimated at around SR11.7 billion.

Around 9,420 accidents were registered inside the kingdom’s cities against 7,542 outside them last year, according to official figures.

Those accidents resulted in a total of 4,555 deaths.

Male drivers outpaced women involved in those accidents, according to the report based on findings by a ministerial committee for traffic safety.

In recent weeks, Saudi media reported several deadly accidents.

Last month, 21 Umrah pilgrims were killed and 29 others injured when their bus flipped over in the Asir region in south-western Saudi Arabia.

Earlier that month, a married couple and their four children were killed in a road crash while returning from the capital Riyadh to Jizan in south-western Saudi Arabia after spending the school holiday.