DAMMAM, 28 December — A corpse drifting in the sea off the coast of Al- Safwaniyah in Al-Khafji since Monday disappeared below the surface on Wednesday, apparently after completely decomposing.
The failure of the authorities to pick up the corpse is a bizarre story of extreme farce and tragedy.
The Industrial Security Police at Saudi Aramco initially came across the body floating in the sea near the Marjan 3 oil field off the coast of Al-Safwaniyah in Al-Khafji. However, it drifted in the sea as Aramco and the Border Guards argued among themselves whether the unidentified body did or did not fall under their jurisdiction. The Eastern Naval fleet in Jubail also refused to pick it up. A team from Aramco was sent to identify the body, but was subsequently instructed not to remove it from the water. The team therefore handed the case back to the Border Guards.
Maj. Gen. Ahmad Al-Khaliq, commander of the Eastern Fleet in Jubail, said Aramco — which argues that a government agency should remove the body so that a formal inquiry could be launched.
"While Border Guards expressed their inability to undertake the task as the location did not fall under its jurisdiction, we sent a vessel to the Marjan 3 oil field off the Mahara in Al-Safwaniyah, and located the body," Maj. Gen. Al-Khaliq said.
The body was not picked up, however, because despite having located it the fleet refused to take responsibility for picking it up.
An informed source yesterday confirmed that the body had been in a state of extreme decomposition.
"It lost its hands and feet before finally disappearing below the surface," the source explained.
