THE driver of a minibus which crashed in Saudi Arabia killing a couple from Glasgow may have been asleep, according to a survivor.

Family of Mohammad Aslam, 73, and wife Talat, 63, who died in the crash along with four other Brits, including a newborn and his grandmother, gathered in Newlands to mourn their passing.

The Aslams were making a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca when the bus crashed, turning over several times before coming to rest.

It has emerged that one survivor has made contact with the Aslams’ family to say they believed the driver may have been asleep. They are expecting an investigation.

The Aslams who have three sons and two daughters, had spoken to their children just a few hours before the accident.

Four members of one family from Manchester were killed in the accident along with the Alsams.

The group had completed the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca, a lesser version of the Hajj, and were driving towards Medina when the minibus crashed on Wednesday.

An employee of Haji Tours, the Manchester-based company which organised the trip, said the accident happened after one the minibus’s tyres burst on the motorway.

Family and friends of the Aslams who gathered at their home in Newlands said that it was their first ever Umrah - a pilgrimage to Mecca performed by Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to the Hajj.

They were a week into the two week trip when the minibus crashed on the way to visit our beloved Prophet’s Masjid in Madina.

The Aslams' three sons Omar, Osman and Haroon and daughter Shehla are preparing to fly to Medina to prepare to bury their mother and father at Jannat al-Baqi, a cemetery in Medina south-east of the Masjid al-Nabawi. 

Daughter Saba said: “We are so so distraught. The bodies are going to get buried there so everyone is headed there.”

Daughter-in-law Shumaila Jeved said: “Everyone is very upset. They felt it was time to make that pilgrimage and then this happens.

“We think the driver was asleep. One of the survivors, she told us that.”

She said pictures of the couple were sent to them for identification purposes.

“The bodies were crushed,” she said.

They had initial contact from Saudi Arabia at midnight to inform them the Aslams had been involved in an accident in the road.

Shabbar Jaffri, a Glasgow city councillor who knew the couple said: “The children are absolutely in shock. They spoke to their parents a few hours before the accident and it hasn’t really sunk in. To lose one parent is bad enough but to lose both at the same time is very hard to imagine.”