At least 14 Palestinian pilgrims dead in Jordan bus accident

At least 14 Palestinian pilgrims were killed and 36 others injured when their bus overturned in southern Jordan near the Saudi border on Wednesday, emergency services said.

Jordanian civil defence officials said the driver of the bus lost control of the vehicle around 320 kilometres (200 miles) south of Amman and warned that the toll could rise, given the severity of the injuries.

The Jordanian newspaper al-Ghad reported that 16 people had died in the accident, adding that the bus flipped over near the southern city of Maan.

Palestine's Maan News Agency quoted Farid al-Sharaa, the spokesman for Jordan's civil defence forces, as saying all of the dead and injured passengers were residents of the West Bank.

Jordan's Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Holy Places told the Jordanian news agency Petra that it was following the case closely. Spokesman Sinan al-Majali said the ministry would do all it could to provide for the needs of the wounded pilgrims.

The group had been heading to Saudi Arabia for the Umrah pilgrimage, which along with the more important annual Hajj attracts millions of Muslims from around the world.