AN East Lancashire councillor has said the community is praying for a family involved in a fatal car crash in Saudi Arabia.

Imrana Bhamji, 35, and her son Zakariya, four, and daughter Aysha, six, died in the horror crash in the holy city of Medina while returning from a pilgrimage.

Mrs Bhamji’s husband Muhammed, a former pupil of Witton Park High School, Blackburn, and their three other children Huafiza, eight, Fatima, seven, and Humairah, 10, were also seriously injured in the collision and are being treated in King Fahad Hospital in Madina.

It is thought the three children are expected to undergo surgery in coming days.

Blackburn Coun Mustafa Desai, who represents the Queen’s Park ward and is Mrs Bhamji’s first cousin, said the community was praying that the injured family members make a full recovery.

He said: “We’re absolutely hoping they will make a full recovery, they’ve all been in our prayers.

“With anything of this nature there is always an element of shock, you don’t expect life to end so suddenly. The community are still in shock that so many lives have gone in such a way, but they have been very supportive of the immediate family.”

The family had only moved to Saudi Arabia eight weeks ago, and Mr Bhamji was working in the country as a teacher.

It is thought the accident happened when the eight seater car the Bhamji family had been travelling in collided with a lorry.”