Muscat: Many passengers had a lucky escape after a bus they were travelling in rolled over, rescue workers said.
One passenger was critically injured and another 11 people on board the bus, on a road in Al Seeb near Muscat International Airport, sustained injuries as rescue teams raced to the scene.
The Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA) reported that it had sent teams to the crash site and various other agencies were involved in the rescue operation on Thursday.
“Emergency rescue teams were at the site near the airport bridge-heading outside Muscat- as a taxi bus crashed and rolled up leaving a number of injured people on the site,” PACDA said in a tweet.
The accident resulted in one critical injury while seven others sustained moderate injuries.
Three other passengers escaped the crash with light injuries. Drivers said that the accident has caused a massive gridlock in Al Seeb. The injured were taken to various hospitals across Muscat for treatment.
There was no update available on the condition of the critically injured passenger, or whether he was an Omani national or a foreigner visiting the country.
Oman is no stranger to death and disaster on its roads. In March this year 18 people died and another 16 were seriously injured when the bus they were in was in a head-on collision with a lorry.
Six Omanis, four Saudis, two Pakistanis and a Yemeni were among the fatalities, according to the Royal Oman Police.
The force of the impact flipped over the heavily loaded truck and the bus roof was partially torn off.
Police are constantly warning drivers not to speed on Oman’s roads and various road safety drives have been launched to educate drivers about speeding.