Four Somali children, aged between one and seven years, died in a massive fire in a three-story residential building in Jeddah. The fire broke out at 5 a.m. on Saturday while the children were sleeping. Neighbors rescued the father and mother of the dead children, and a 12-year-old boy, by breaking the window to their flat.
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A secondary school student in Jeddah recently settled his differences with a schoolmate in his own way — by stabbing him more than eight times. The 17-year-old victim, who was taken to King Fahd Hospital by Saudi Red Crescent Society, is still in the hospital’s emergency ward. The police are continuing their search for the youth. Abdullah Al-Thaqafi, assistant director of education in the Makkah region, said such crimes are rare among Saudi school students.
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A Saudi government employee in the southern city of Jizan has had his full salary stolen from his care. The employee had withdrawn the salary from an ATM and put it in his car. Shortly afterward, he went to buy provisions from a local shop. When he returned to his car, he was shocked to see his whole salary missing. The unfortunate man believes that the thief might have been following him.
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Two Saudis were killed in a horrible accident on the Hafr Al-Baten-Riyadh Road caused by speeding. Security sources said the driver of the Mercedes car lost control because of high speed and hit a lamppost in the middle of the two-way road. The car was divided into two. The driver and his friend died instantly.
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Two people, including a 23-year-old female teacher, died and seven others were injured in two separate accidents in Riyadh and Rafha last Saturday. The first took place on the Riyadh-Makkah Expressway, killing the teacher and injuring four of her colleagues and their driver when their vehicle skidded after a tire burst. The teacher died of a deep gash to the head. The four injured passengers were quickly taken to Muzahamiya Hospital by Saudi Red Crescent officers. In the second accident on the International Road near Rafha, a Bangladeshi was killed and two of his compatriots were injured when a SAPTCO bus collided head-on with their car. There were eight passengers inside the bus at the time of accident, but all of them escaped with minor injuries.
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A Saudi escaped what appeared certain death in Alkharma recently when a bullet fired from his gun pierced his throat and the lower part of his head. The accident occurred while the man was trying to remove the bullet case from his gun. He failed to notice the presence of a bullet inside the gun, which was cocked and ready to be fired. The man accidentally pressed the trigger. He was quickly taken to hospital, where he underwent an emergency surgery.
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There were fires in both Dammam and Jeddah last Sunday. In Jeddah, a leaking gas cylinder exploded when a young man lit his cigarette lighter near it. The ensuing fire destroyed the man’s room and he suffered burns to more than 50 percent of his body. Civil Defense officers rushed to the site, put out the fire and rescued the youth.
The second fire took place in a residential building in Dammam and destroyed the furniture inside the apartment. Firefighters and rescue teams managed to put out this fire quickly.
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In Riyadh, police raided a house and arrested six young expatriate workers with forged Saudi identity cards and work permits. One of the six, named only as Muhammad, said that he bought the Saudi ID card for SR200 from a shop in Najran. Another illegal worker admitted that he managed to get a job at a reputed company by presenting a copy of the Saudi identity card. The third man was found hunting for a job, using a copy of a forged Saudi ID card. Police said the remaining three had entered the Kingdom without visa.
Compiled by P.K. Abdul Ghafour
