Bodies of the Jordan bus crash transferred back to Palestine

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on March 16, 2013 shows a bus following an accident with a truck in the Adssiyeh region in southwest Jordan. (AFP PHOTO/YOUTUBE)

Fifteen of the seventeen victims of Saturday's bus crash in Jordan will be returned to their home city of Jenin in Palestine, according to the district governor, Maan news reported on Sunday.

The Jordan Times reported on Saturday that the death toll had risen to 17, with a further 38 injured after a bus slammed in to two other vehicles on the Dead Sea road. So far the other two victims have not been confirmed as part of the set of bodies being returned to Palestine.

The victims were on their way back to Palestine, returning from a religious pilgrimage to Mecca. Jenin governor, Talal Dweikat, confirmed that the bodies would be returned to Jenin, where most of the travelers were from and that the ceremony would be accompanied by a military parade and mass prayer in their honor.

President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly also decided to attend the home coming and deliver a speech at the event.