Please make dua for this family and for the child you alhamdulilah survived. It is terrible tragedy but we take comfort in the fact they they rest in Jannat-tul Baqi. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un.
Five members of the same British family have been killed in a car crash inSaudi Arabia – but a one-year-old baby miraculously survived.
Three generations of the family had been making a religious pilgrimage to Mecca before a family wedding when the taxi they were travelling in crashed into a ditch.
The victims have been named locally as Shaukat Ali Hayat, 56, his wife Abida, 47, eldest son Mohammed Isshaq, 33, daughter Saira Zenub and Mohammed's heavily pregnant wife, Bilques, 31.
It is believed one-year-old Mohammed Eisa Daniel was the only survivor. Reports say he was found among the crumpled wreckage being cradled in the arms of his dying grandfather.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed it was providing consular assistance to the victim's relatives following the accident on Friday.
The Hayat family, from Newport in south Wales, had been in Saudi Arabia as part of the Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca by Muslims at any time of the year, because Saira was due to get married this weekend.
The taxi they were travelling in left a motorway while en route to Jedda. Family members say the car went straight into a concrete bridge, somersaulted off the road and ended up in a ditch.
Rescuers found the body of Hayat cradling the family's only survivor, one-year-old Mohammed, in the wreckage. The South Wales Argus newspaper reported Shaukat's brother Sma Hayat, 58, as saying his sibling was a "well loved and liked" teacher and writer of Islam.
He described Saira Zenub as a "very talented" locum pharmacist, while Mohammed Isshaq was hoping to do a PhD in neuroscience at university.
"This is one of the most shocking tragedies in Welsh history involving a Muslim family," he said. "Shaukat saw what happened as the car went out of control. He grabbed the baby, clutched it in his arms and cushioned him. The boy [Mohammed] has lost everyone but luckily he's pulled through. We would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for their support."
Hayat's brother Ibrahim is a Labour councillor and the family was involved in campaigning for the party.
Ron Jones, councillor for Newport's Pillgwenlly ward, said: "They were a tremendous family. They worked for us during the election. They were deeply involved in the community and were absolutely upstanding. There are a lot of people who are going to feel their passing very deeply.
"Ibrahim has gone out there to help arrange the funeral. I've spoken to him and he's absolutely devastated. It's a massive and unbelievable tragedy."
The Hayat family was also involved in charity work in and around Newport and in 2010 they helped raise funds for victims of flooding in Pakistan.
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