HAFR AL-BATEN, 11 August — The heat wave in the Kingdom has reportedly killed two children in the northern city of Hafr Al-Baten.
A medical source at King Khaled Hospital told Arab News that the two boys, aged one and three, died last Monday.
“They died after their mother left them in an non-airconditioned room,” the source said.
Temperatures in the city hit 48 degrees Celsius (119 Fahrenheit) last week.
The mother left the children to sleep after feeding them milk in the morning. When she returned after doing her household chores, she found that she could not wake them up.
The medical source at the hospital warned parents against leaving their children in non-air-conditioned rooms, saying that children’s tolerance of heat exposure is very low when compared to that of adults.
Hasan Meera of the Meteorological Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA) in Jeddah told Arab News that hot weather was likely to continue in the region for the rest of the month. He said hot winds in the northeast, coming from the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, was the cause.
In neighboring Kuwait, temperatures have shot up to more than 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) during the past week. Last Friday, a temperature of 50.7 degrees Celsius (123 Fahrenheit) was recorded at Kuwait Airport, the highest so far this year.
During the summer temperatures often come close to 50 degrees Celsius in Kuwait, however, and usually result in laborers falling ill with heat exhaustion and roads melting.
The Saudi climate, however, varies regionally.
While some regions suffer under sweltering heat, others are flooded by heavy rainfall.
In Madinah, 80 sheep died after being struck by lightning on Wednesday during a three-hour-long shower. Strong winds also destroyed signboards on the streets.
A civil defense official said electricity short-circuits had been reported at six buildings in the city. However, nobody has been seriously hurt.
A few days ago, two Saudi youngsters in Madinah died falling into a deep pool caused by rainwater.
