Forty-five people were killed in a bus crash near the Saudi city of Madinah early on Monday, when a vehicle carrying Umrah pilgrims from India collided with a diesel tanker.

One of the 46 people on board the bus survived and is receiving treatment in hospital, VC Sajjanar, police commissioner of Hyderabad, told The National. Travel operators said the man, 24, is recovering.

“Abdul Shoeb Mohammed managed to break the window and jumped out of the bus. He is the only passenger to survive,” Shaik Ismail, a travel consultant with Al Makkah tour agency in Hyderabad, told The National. “He had serious injuries to his head, was being treated in the ICU and is improving.”

Mr Sajjanar added that eight people from the tour group were safe – four stayed in Makkah and four decided to travel to Madinah by car. “The people who died are from Hyderabad and one is from Karnataka. They were travelling for Umrah and were from a group of 54 who had left Hyderabad on November 9," the added. "We are trying our best to reach out to families and to verify the details of all the passengers.”

Indian media reported that the bus caught fire after the crash. The dead included 20 women and 11 children, most from Hyderabad.

Saudi Arabia has not yet confirmed the death toll.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "deeply saddened" by the accident. "My thoughts are with the families who have lost their loved ones. I pray for the swift recovery of all those injured," he wrote on X.

He said the Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah "are providing all possible assistance" to citizens. "Our officials are also in close contact with Saudi authorities," he added.

India's Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar, also expressed his condolences in a message on X. "Deeply shocked at the accident involving Indian nationals in Madinah, Saudi Arabia," he said in the post. "Our embassy in Riyadh and consulate in Jeddah are giving fullest support to Indian nationals and families affected by this accident."

Earlier this month, a bus crashed and caught fire while travelling from Saudi Arabia to Yemen. The bus, en route from Jeddah to Yemen's southern port city of Aden, collided head-on with a minibus in a mountainous area of Yemen's Abyan province.