Accidents & misdemeanors

Schoolteacher jumps off causeway: A 25-year-old schoolteacher, reportedly, committed suicide jumping from the King Fahd Causeway connecting the Kingdom with Bahrain last Monday. Police suspected a suicide attempt when they found an abandoned car on the bridge with keys and other personal belongings, including a mobile telephone, inside at about noon that day. Immediately they informed the Border Guard who sent three rescue teams to the location. The body surfaced after several hours. It was lifted from the water and sent for autopsy. The police later received a call on the mobile from a friend of the schoolteacher. He also told them that he did not rule out the possibility of a suicide attempt by the man because he appeared to have been in a state of depression recently. The friend’s description matched the description of the body lifted from the sea. The police said the man joined a school in Qateef at the beginning of the current academic year.

Driver’s fantasy lands four in hospital: Four people were injured when a taxicab overturned after the driver swerved to avoid a collision with what he thought was a stray camel standing in the middle of the Renia-Khorma Road on a dark night. The driver fancied that the camel was charging the car but the three passengers in the car did not see a camel or any thing else on the road. The three injured passengers and the driver were taken to hospital.

Youth in coma after falling from building: A young man was admitted to the intensive care ward after falling from a three-story building when painting the outer walls of his apartment in Yanbu. The accident occurred when the lamp support the youth was standing on gave way hurling him on to the road below. His wife telephoned the Civil Defense who took him to hospital where he is still in a state of coma.

One year jail, SR1,000 fine for forging iqama: An expatriate who was using a forged residence permit has been sentenced to one year in jail and a fine of SR1,000 in Dammam. Investigations revealed that he had entered the Kingdom via Yemen and then obtained a stolen iqama from an Asian expatriate in Riyadh after paying SR900.

Quack doctor arrested in surprise raid: During a surprise raid on a clinic in Makkah, police arrested an Indian laborer posing as a qualified doctor and practicing abortions. A number of unhygienic surgical instruments were found and removed from his “clinic”. The raid was led by Brig. Gen. Alabi Al-Barkati, director of preventive security, a division of the Makkah police. The team also raided four illegal call booths and discovered records of phone calls running into thousands of riyals.

Gas stations closed down: The Civil Defense has closed eight gas filling stations in the city recently as they were found to be violating safety and labor regulations. Col. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, director of Jeddah Civil Defense, said they were closed because they did not fulfill safety regulations including those concerning maintenance of the petrol tanks. In the absence of proper maintenance and repair, fissures appeared in the tanks causing the underground water to seep in and mix with petrol in the tanks resulting in damage to customers’ vehicles.