HAIL, 11 September 2006 — Police officers admitted yesterday that they failed to locate the body of a man whose wife and three children were found dead in a stranded car south of the Al-Ulayem desert, about 40 km north of the Hail-Jouf highway.

According to reports, the woman and her three children had been lying dead for over three months. A local desert nomad made the grim discovery and then informed Hail police about the jeep. Police said that the bodies belonged to members of a family that had disappeared three months ago.

At the time, police launched a massive search for the family using helicopters to scour the area. Police officers say that the man, who worked as a prison guard and was transferred to the Al-Kurayyat prison from Hail, had ended up losing his way when he decided to take a shortcut through the desert. Police officers say that the family probably died as a result of thirst and dehydration.

Capt. Saad Al-Muhareb of the Hail police said his men were searching for the man. “We have called for an airplane to search for the missing man and we hope that we will find traces of him,” he said, adding that it is more than likely that the man was dead and that his body was buried under the sand because the accident happened a long time ago.

Al-Muhareb said that the bodies of the children and their mother have been handed to relatives for burial.

The story of the family has shocked residents in Hail. Initial reports had suggested that in desperation the family even drank the car coolant to fight their thirst. Police officers found one of the children in the back of the car dead and covered with a blanket, indicating that he might have died first and that his mother had put him in the back and then covered him with a blanket. The other two children were found in the back seat hugging each other while the mother was found lying next to the car, which shows that she might have been searching for water before she collapsed. Police also found a piece of paper with the woman, in which she described the last moment of their lives.

The tragic deaths have highlighted calls by people for a better search and rescue system including helicopters to be kept at Hail airport. Badr Farhan, a local Hail resident, said: “The number of such accidents would be reduced if planes and helicopters were involved in the search and rescue operations. It is very important to have the GPS system for location in the middle of the desert.”

Hamoud Al-Fareedi said that it is totally unacceptable to see helicopters sent to cover a Hail rally or to search for wanted terrorists but not utilized to search for missing people in the desert.

“All that we ask for is a small helicopter base at the Hail regional airport to be at hand when disasters happen. Helicopters should be there around the clock and ready for deployment when needed,” he added.