Abdullah Al-Qahtani Okaz/Saudi Gazette ABHA — Two female schoolteachers were killed and six others injured in a traffic accident Tuesday on the Al-Jouba-Sarat Obeidah road in Asir province. Nine unidentified men also lost their lives in the accident, which happened when a vehicle carrying 10 illegal foreigners collided head-on with a mini-bus carrying eight teachers on their way to their school in the local village of Al-Raboua. Traffic police patrols and the Red Crescent teams rushed to the scene. The bodies of the 11 victims and the injured people were transported to the Sarat Obeidah Hospital. According to preliminary police reports, the person driving the illegal foreigners lost control of his vehicle due to speeding. He did not stop at any of the checkpoints. Spokesman for Asir Health Affairs Saeed Al-Nigair said Sarat Obeidah Hospital was put on full alert to receive the injured men and women. He said one of the schoolteachers was immediately taken to the operations room because she was pregnant and was suspected to be suffering from internal bleeding. The spokesman said the injured suffered from fractures and bruises but their general condition was stable. He said they were all confined to beds in the hospital and the serious cases would be transported to other advanced hospitals. Al-Nigair said the driver of the minibus was taken to the Saudi German Hospital in Abha, while one of the female teachers was transferred to the general hospital in Khamis Mushayt to complete her treatment. He said the smuggler of the illegal foreigners was sent to Asir General Hospital. Ali bin Hussain, a famous businessman in the region whose niece Muna Al-Qammash died in the accident, held the Ministry of Education responsible for the accident because it did not complete a project to transport women teachers who travel long distances to reach their schools. He asked: “How can a female teacher who spends much of her time on the road be able to do her work properly?” Turki Al-Shihri, whose daughter Sanaa also died in the accident, said his child was almost 26 and seven months pregnant with her first child. Sanaa's brother Siddiq said his sister had only talked to him and her other six sisters over the phone the night before she died. Fazia Al-Ghamdi, a colleague of the victims, said she was lucky she escaped death because she was ill.
