Gulf Daily News Thursday, 29th January 2015 Email: [email protected] 11 Victim boarded bus at the last minute... n Relatives and friends attend the funeral of three members of the Al Asfoor family who have been discharged from the hospital and are on the process of sending the remaining.” Businessman Ahmed Hassan, who was on board the bus with his seven-member family, told the GDN they were yet to recover from the initial shock of the crash. “Almost everyone on board the bus were from Sitra, from three or four families, and so they were all related or were friends,” he said. “We have still not got over the shock of it, but by God’s grace most of us escaped with minor injuries. By RAJI UNNIKRISHNAN A BAHRAINI who died in a crash in Kuwait this week was not supposed to be on the bus carrying pilgrims to Iraq, according to his relatives. Jaffar Mohammed Al Asfoor, 44, died on impact when the coach, carrying 45 Bahrainis, was reportedly overtaken by a water tanker on Abdali Road, north of Kuwait City, causing it to crash into a truck carrying bricks. He was among four Bahrainis who died on Monday, including his son Moosa Al Asfoor, 24, and his uncle 87-year-old Salman Al Asfoor, along with bus driver Maitham Abdulla, 29. All three members of the Al Asfoor family were buried in the Sitra Cemetery yesterday, while Mr Abdulla’s body was flown into the country yesterday. A family member said that the 44-year-old had planned to fly to Karbala in Iraq – the destination of the bus – with his wife a day earlier, but changed his mind at the last moment. “He was supposed to fly to Karbala with his wife on Sunday, but at the last minute he decided to travel by bus and his wife went on flight,” he told the GDN. “She went ahead so that she could make ar- Helpful n The deceased, from left, Salman Al Asfoor, Jaffar Al Asfoor and Moosa Al Asfoor rangements for the family members who were scheduled to reach a day later. “His wife was informed and she is back in Bahrain.” The GDN had reported that 26 pilgrims, who were involved in the crash that killed a total of five people and injured more than 50, returned home on Tuesday night, while two more who were discharged from hospital arrived in Bahrain yesterday afternoon. According to Bahrain Embassy consular Ebtisam Al Ruwaie, six Bahrainis admitted to Al Jahra Hospital in Kuwait are in need of emergency surgeries. “There are six who need emergency surgeries and we are waiting for more details from doctors in Al Jahra,” she told the GDN. “We have sent back the first batch of people “I haven’t been able to sleep for the past two days and I must mention that the Kuwaitis were very helpful at the accident site and in the hospital, much before any Bahrainis could reach us,” explained Mr Hassan, while recalling the incident. The GDN earlier reported that the fifth person who died in the accident was an Egyptian man. Gulf Air said in a statement yesterday that all Bahraini travellers involved in the accident would be brought back to Bahrain over the coming days, according to their state of health. [email protected] Joint Bahrain-Saudi bid to host Olympics rejected PLANS for a joint Bahrain-Saudi bid to host a future Olympic Games have been rejected outright by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It comes after Saudi Arabian General Organisation for Youth and Sports presidential representative Prince Fahd bin Jalawi Al Saud, who also serves as an international relations consultant to the president of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, told French sporting website Francs Jeux that recent IOC resolutions paved the way for such a bid with men’s event held in Saudi Arabia and the women’s competitions in Bahrain. However, IOC President Thomas Bach was quick to dismiss the idea of a segregated Olympics. “A commitment to ‘non-discrimination’ will be mandatory for all countries hoping to bid for the Olympics in the future,” Mr Bach said. “This was made very clear in the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms and will even be in the host city contract. “If this is not applied, the bid would not be admissible – countries like Saudi Arabia must really work to allow female athletes to ‘freely participate.’” Prince Fahd had said in his interview with Francs Jeux that a Bahrain-Saudi joint candidacy would be allowed under the Olympic Agenda 2020 reform package, recently approved by the IOC in Monaco. These changes opened the door to events being held outside a host city or country, as well as the possibility of joint bids by cities, neighbouring countries or regions, but only in “ex- ceptional cases”. “Our society can be very conservative – it has a hard time accepting that women can compete in sports, especially in swimming,” said Prince Fahd. Conservative “Wearing sports clothing in public is not really allowed (and) for these cultural reasons, it is difficult to bid for certain big international events. “(But) we could envisage it with Bahrain, we have always had a form of co-operation with that country. “Since the vote on Agenda 2020, we could envisage a joint bid – Bahrain would hold the women’s events, we would hold the men’s competitions.” In a statement, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said that Saudi Arabia “cannot simply outsource certain issues to another territory”. For the first time ever, Saudi Arabia sent two women to the last Olympics Games, held in London in 2012. However, it was a male-only Saudi team that attended last year’s Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.