A single extended family from Hyderabad was virtually annihilated in the deadliest road accident involving Indian pilgrims in recent memory when the bus carrying them slammed into a fuel tanker on the Madinah migration route at around 3 a.m. Monday, instantly erupting into a fireball that claimed 23 lives. Eighteen of the victims (nine of them children, spanning grandparents, parents, and grandchildren) belonged to the same clan from the city’s Tolichowki and Shaikpet areas, turning what was meant to be a joyous multi-generational Umrah into unimaginable collective grief.

At Hajj House in Nampally, Syed Abdul Rasheed sat crumpled in a plastic chair, mechanically repeating the names of his wife, elder daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren, and 15 other close relatives who had departed Hyderabad on November 9 full of excitement. “I spoke to them last night… they were laughing, saying they were leaving Makkah for Madinah after a week of prayers,” he whispered, voice cracking. The only branch member still alive is his eldest son in the United States, who missed the trip only because he couldn’t secure a seat (his wife and two children were on the bus and are now among the dead).

The group had booked the entire package through Baab Ul Harmain Tours and Travels, paying roughly ₹1 lakh per head for flights, hotels, and internal transport. After completing Umrah rites in Makkah, they boarded the ill-fated bus for the 450-km journey to the Prophet’s city. According to survivor Shoaib (the sole relative who escaped with the driver by leaping out seconds before impact), the tanker suddenly veered into their lane, causing the bus to overturn and explode on contact. “Everything turned orange… there was no time,” he told relatives over a shaky phone call from a Saudi hospital.

Also Read: Saudi Bus Crash: Hyderabad Families Devastated After 45 Umrah Pilgrims Die in Blaze

Throughout Monday, dozens of shell-shocked kin crowded Hajj House and the travel agency office clutching passport copies, photographs, and prayer beads, begging for any confirmed list of the dead. Some sobbed quietly at the thought their loved ones would be buried in the sacred soil of Madinah; others, like Abdul Rasheed, pleaded with Telangana government officials for emergency visas to fly to Saudi Arabia and see the wreckage themselves. “I just want to stand where they took their last breath,” he repeated.

With at least 20 of the 23 confirmed fatalities believed to be from Telangana (most from the same intertwined family network), the tragedy has become the single largest loss of life for Indian pilgrims in a road accident abroad. As charred remains await DNA identification and repatriation formalities drag on, an entire Hyderabad neighbourhood is draped in black, mourning a family that left together to pray and never returned.

Also Read: Saudi Bus Crash: Lone Survivor Emerges as Forty Two Indian Pilgrims Die Near Medina