ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Saudi Arabia are working round-the-clock to identify at least ten Pakistanis who were killed in a bus accident on Wednesday near the holy city of Madinah, officials said on Saturday.

“It is a time-taking process [to identify the victims] because the bodies of all the victims are burnt beyond recognition,” Majid Hussain Memon, community welfare attaché at Pakistan’s embassy in Riyadh told Arab News.

“Unfortunately, all the identification documents that these victims must be carrying with them have also burnt in the accident,” he said, adding that “the only solution left now [to identify the victims] is through DNA testing.”

Thirty-five Arab and Asian pilgrims were killed and four others injured in a bus crash on Wednesday near the holy city of Madinah when a private bus carrying 39 passengers collided with a heavy vehicle.

Memon said that at least ten Pakistanis were killed and one injured in the accident as per the initial reports.

“We are gathering details with the help of Saudi authorities as they have been working tirelessly to identify all the victims as soon as possible,” he said, adding that the Saudi authorities have collected the DNA samples of all the victims to ascertain the exact identification.

The official said that the initial information on the number of Pakistani victims was based on data collected from the relevant bus company. “There is a possibility that some of them [Pakistani passengers] got off the bus as it was coming via different cities,” he said, adding that the authorities were also looking to establish whether any passenger had gotten off the bus prior to the accident.

“We are hopeful that the situation will be clear in the next couple of days,” he said.

Pakistan’s director for Hajj in Madinah, Tariq Mahmood, said that officials in Riyadh had also launched an investigation to ascertain the cause of the accident and prevent a repeat of such incidents in the future.

Mahmood said that the Saudi Ministry of Health would formally announce “the status of identification of all the victims” once the due process was fulfilled. “We are in touch with all the relevant authorities here to get this issue resolved as soon as possible,” he added.