DAMMAM, 29 December — Relatives of a Bahraini man who has been missing for over a month arrived in Al-Khafji yesterday after hearing reports about a body drifting in the sea off the coast of Al-Safwaniyah. They have requested that the Saudi authorities take all necessary steps to recover the body from the sea, because they strongly suspect it to be that of their relative.
Ibrahim Salman Hasan, a brother of the missing man, said the description of the dead body matched that of his brother Jaafar Salman.
Salman, 45, had put on a blue shirt when he went to sea in a fishing boat. The empty boat was located a few days ago. Jaafar was married with four children.
The Industrial Security Police at Saudi Aramco, who spotted the body on Monday, had reported that it was wrapped in a blue shirt. They saw the body floating in the sea near the Marjan 3 oil field off Al-Safwaniyah. However, it drifted in the sea as Aramco and the Border Guard 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. In the meantime, the body had vanished.
