JEDDAH, 15 January 2006 — A seven-year-old boy of African origin was found dead inside a hole of a government sewage project in Jeddah’s Bani Malik district yesterday morning.
According to Civil Defense officials, private contractors working on a public works project found the body. Civil Defense rescue workers pulled the body out of the two-meter sewage hole. A football was discovered next to the corpse.
The body, which has not been identified, was taken to the Mental Hospital Morgue located south of Jeddah near King Abdul Aziz Hospital.
Preliminary medical reports estimated that the child had been dead for five to six days. The cause of death has yet to be declared pending a full coroner’s examination.
A source, which requested anonymity, told Arab News that the site was in violation of several safety regulations.
According to the source, primary reports suggested that the boy fell in while trying to recover his football. The incident is still under investigation.
