DAMMAM, 4 December — A Filipino worker was killed when a van he was travelling in smashed into a freight train near the eastern city of Alkhobar on Sunday.
Khaled Al-Yahya, chairman of Saudi Railways Organization (SRO), said police had opened an investigation into the accident, which also left three other Filipinos and one Indian injured.
The accident involved a goods train transporting cars heading to Riyadh from King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam.
Medical sources at the hospital told Arab News that the injured were in stable condition. “Their injuries are not that serious, and they are lucky considering the enormity of the accident,” they said.
People living in the area complain that there is a lack of adequate lighting at some of the local railway crossings.
Train accidents are rare in Saudi Arabia, which has only one railway line — a 450-kilometer link between the capital Riyadh and the eastern coastal city of Dammam.
Saudi Arabia is currently studying plans to build around 2,000 kilometers of railways to link the east and west coasts and the minerals-rich north with Riyadh.
