Publish Date: 8 April 2013 - 22:26

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Saudi officials have accepted liability for the deaths of two Iranian pilgrims in Jeddah.

“The first response of Saudi Arabian officials was [their] acceptance of responsibility for the incident,” Amir-Abdollahian said Monday.

He added that Iran would soon send a fact-finding committee to Saudi Arabia to investigate the matter along with Saudi officials.


“According to the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, blood money will be paid to both families [of the victims],” the senior Iranian official said.

Two Iranian pilgrims were killed and four others were injured after a service truck crashed into a passenger lounge at Jeddah international airport in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, reports quoted the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority as saying on Friday.

Two of the wounded pilgrims were treated on the spot and were able to board a flight to Tehran. The other two were hospitalized.