RIYADH: A 28-year-old Saudi man died in Sri Lanka on Friday while being taken to hospital from Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport after suffering a heart attack..
Thameer Saeed Al-Zahrani died on his way to Negombo Base Hospital. Al-Zahrani had been on board a Saudia flight, which had to make an emergency landing on the island at 8:33 p.m. after he complained of severe chest pains.
According to a Saudi Arabian Airlines official in Colombo, authorities at the airport mobilized a special ambulance to ferry the man to hospital, while providing him with necessary medical care.
An official of the Saudi Embassy in Colombo said Al-Zahrani's body is currently at the Negombo Base Hospital. "The autopsy is likely to take place soon since the preliminary inquiry has been completed," he said.
Al-Zahrani had gone to Jakarta to spend his holidays with two of his friends - Abdul Jarallah Al-Zahrani, 28, and Nimer Saeed Al-Zahrani, 31. The two have now opted to remain in Colombo until the body is dispatched to Saudi Arabia.
The embassy official said the mission is looking after the two men and is trying to speed up the process of sending the body back to the Kingdom.
"As soon as the postmortem is over, the body will be dispatched to the next-of-kin in Jeddah. The dead man's two friends are expected to accompany the body," he said.
According to Airport Chief Inspector Eric Perera, doctors at the airport attended the patient before he was taken to hospital. Perera said the airport police immediately informed the Saudi Embassy in Colombo and that embassy officials sent a team to assist the police.
The Saudia plane was carrying 447 passengers when it made the unscheduled landing in Colombo.
