Several holidaymakers had the nightmarish experience of going without electricity for hours in extremely hot weather and high humidity.

They blamed mismanagement and a lack of proper maintenance for their suffering. There were also chaotic scenes as people were barred from entering or leaving the village.

Guests also demanded a thorough investigation into the incident and urged authorities to resolve the problem.

On the other hand, the village management has denied that there were power failures for three hours.

“The power supply had been disrupted for about 20 minutes as a result of a minor technical fault with the generators,” one management source told Al-Madinah Arabic daily.

The newspaper, however, confirmed its reporter witnessed power outages for three hours from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Tuesday at several villas and cabins in the village.

Many vacationers expressed their anger and disappointment at the traumatic experience.

One citizen, who was standing outside his villa with his son, said there was no electricity supply for over three hours on the second day of Eid.

“I was forced to take my family outside of the villa and sit inside our car to escape the extreme heat and humidity,” he said adding that the first outage happened around Dhuhr prayer.

“It was for about one hour. That day, power was restored in the evening and then cut off again, leaving us in total darkness. This time, the telephone lines had also gone off,” he said.

Adding insult to injury, the village management had instructed security guards not to allow any owners or visitors enter the village.

This resulted in chaotic scenes at the entrance. Many owners were forced to wait in the sun outside their villas and rented houses. There was a long queue of vehicles carrying families outside, waiting for permission to enter the facility.

Those affected included not only owners of villas, but also those rented properties for their Eid holidays. Al-Sharif Faisal rented a villa for three days from the second day of Eid, and had paid SR4,000.

“All of a sudden, our holiday was spoiled by a power outage. In the beginning, power disruptions happened at frequent intervals. Then it went off for two hours at noontime. This forced hundreds of people to come out of their villas and houses and take shelter under the trees,” he said.

Al-Sharif’s Eid celebrations were marred, especially because of the suffering caused to his sick mother.

“My mother, an asthmatic patient who is supported by an artificial respiratory system with an oxygen cylinder, was traumatized due to the power failure. We were even afraid that she might die,” he said.

He added that the closure of the main gate caused him further trouble when he tried to take his mother out to the nearby health clinic.

Al-Sharif accused the management of inaction and an irresponsible attitude in resolving the crisis.

One villa owner, who chose to remain anonymous, urged authorities to find a permanent solution to this recurring problem, especially as owners were paying electricity charges 10 times higher than usual.

Fawzi Al-Qobri, who rented a villa for four days, could not enter the village due to the power cuts.

“My family and I remained in my car for hours from 1 a.m. outside the gate. We managed to enter the village only after morning prayers. But the situation there was chaotic due to the power disruption. So we left,” he said. Fawzi is now demanding a thorough investigation into the incident. He has also started attempts to get back more than SR15,000 that he paid in advance to stay at the village.

Durrat Al-Arus is a tourist village 40 km north of Jeddah on the Red Sea coast.

The village, overlooking the sea, consists of villas, apartments and resorts. It is equipped with independent electric power and water plants, telephone and mobile networks, satellite TV channels, security systems, and a small hospital.