One of the survivors of last Wednesday's bus crash on the Al-Sulail to Riyadh Road that took the lives of over 25 people has said that passengers had been concerned at the driver “nodding off” behind the wheel. Speaking from his hospital bed in Sabya, Al-Hassan Al-Hussein Al-Na'mi said that passengers had also complained about the bus “swaying to and fro” as it made its way from Riyadh to Jizan. “The driver said, however, that it was because of the weather,” said Al-Na'mi, who works at a Qur'an memorization school in Bish. “At that point I decided I would make a complaint against the driver to the bus company.” According to Al-Na'mi, who lost his father in the accident, most of the passengers were fast asleep when the 4 A.M. collision occurred. “There was huge bang and the bus overturned several times and caught fire. I was thrown out of the bus but my father was trapped inside. My head was injured, and I could hear the screams from inside, and I went to try and help my father and other passengers but the flames were too strong.” After visiting the site on Thursday, Minister of Transport Jabara Al-Suraisiry ordered an immediate investigation into how the bus struck the rear of a transport truck parked on the side of the road approximately 50 km from Al-Sulail. Ibrahim Al-Hunaidi from the company owning the transport truck said that the driver had reported a breakdown over 15 hours before the crash occurred, but that authorities failed to tow away the vehicle.
