Four people from Lancashire die after coach crash in Saudi Arabia.

A mother of six with 13 grandchildren is said to have been among four Britons killed in a fiery coach crash in Saudi Arabia.

Another 12 British citizens were injured in the tragedy around 30 miles north of Mecca on Saturday.

Raj Begum Hussain, 70, from Blackburn, is understood to have died along with an elderly woman and her adult son, from Preston, Lancashire, and an elderly man, also from Preston.

The victims were among 18 people on board the coach which was travelling from Mecca to Medina as part of an Umra pilgrimage.

Family members of are planning to fly out to Saudi Arabia within the next 24 hours.

The Foreign Office (FCO) spokesman said it supporting the British families of the dead and injured.

Meanwhile the Saudi Ambassador to the UK, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, has instructed his consular team to issue them with emergency visas.

He tweeted: My sincere sympathies and thoughts are with the families of the four British pilgrims who tragically died in a coach crash in the Kingdom on Saturday and for the pilgrims who were injured.''

The group were travelling in a coach when it collided with a petrol tanker near the town of Al Khalas, said Blackburn-based travel firm Hashim Travel.

The driver of the tanker is also said to have died, while other coach passengers were treated for fractures.

The travel firm's director, Gulfaraz Zaman, said: The coach driver said they were travelling in the opposite direction to the petrol tanker when a car overtook the tanker and he had to move in to the side of the road a little to let it through but then the petrol tanker hit the coach which caught fire.''

Al Khalas is a settlement roughly 30 miles north of the holy site of Mecca.

Hashim Travel said it has been operating specialist Hajj and Umra tour packages for more than 15 years.

The Umra pilgrimage, which can be undertaken any time of the year, is a smaller version of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which sees millions of Muslims travel to Mecca.

A spokesman for the Council of British Hajjis said: Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who have been affected by this tragic accident whilst on the Umrah pilgrimage to the holy lands. We have been in touch with the British Consulate in Jeddah who are providing on the ground consular support.''

Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi, chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hajj and Umrah, said: I am really saddened to hear of the death of pilgrims. My prayers and thoughts for them and their family at this difficult time.'