RIYADH, 29 October 2005 — Today the wind blows across the desert of Al-Asyah near a small village. People who live around here call the spot “The Trap,” but there is little else to note the chilling tragedy some 40 years ago — a tragedy that happened when Saudi Arabia was a different place than it is today.
For 40 years ago, onlookers watch helplessly as eight souls perished when a community well-digging project turned deadly.
More than 20 men from the area, some 60 kilometers northeast of the Al-Qassim Province capital Buraidah, had come together to dig a community water well. The men divided into three groups —one to gather wood for the project, one to dig the well and one to remove the dirt from the excavation. Nine men were on the digging team, which took a break after going 15 meters down into the ground. The first man climbed the ladder, and then the well collapsed burying the eight men.
There were no telephones and no cars in the village. One of the men mounted the fastest camel and raced to the nearest village, which was 32 kilometers from the location. He sounded the alarm, and rescuers reached the area by nightfall. The searchers hoped to find some survivors. As they reached nine meters into the earth, the well collapsed again, almost claiming another two victims. After several attempts in the next desperate hours, rescuers realized time had run out for the men, and the funeral prayer was performed for the eight men killed that day. Visitors to the area can see the remnants of the well that has become a makeshift grave.
Mothers of the men who died had asked that the bodies be retrieved and given a proper burial. One of the mothers, bereaved over the loss of her son, continued to expect him to come home until she herself died. Most of the mothers have died now, but there are still calls for the area to be blocked off and given the respect of grave with a marker to commemorate the lives of eight men who died helping others.
Locals say animals change direction rather than get near the Trap, and campers visiting the area tend to avoid the place — some even say they hear the screams of the men late at night.
The relatives of the men have again asked the Scholar Committee to consider setting aside the ground as a cemetery and await a decision.
The story still is told of the eight men who died, so long ago when Saudi Arabia was a different place, and the wind still blows over Al-Asyah — and the Trap.
