The investigation was ordered after a Saudi citizen reported that he came across two skulls on the tiny uninhabited island, 4.5 kilometers off the Al-Hurra tourist location in Umluj. Umm Al-Malik is part of a group of tiny islands called Al-Fawayidah in the Red Sea.

Chief of the fishermen community in Umluj, Amin Abubakr, said fishermen in the region used to come across many skeletons on the island in the past and they believed the bones belonged to sailors or pilgrims who survived shipwrecks long time ago. They might have died of hunger and thirst on the uninhabited island, he said. He added that fishermen used to bury any skeletons they found on these islands, Al-Madinah daily newspaper reported on Monday.

Another possibility was, according to him, that a passing ship might have thrown overboard dead sailors and the floating bodies might have been washed ashore the island during high tides. Another possibility is that powerful waves might have uncovered bodies that might have been buried there a long time ago.

However, he believed that the skulls were of people who had died a long time ago. Mahmoud Al-Sayyid, an old seafarer from Umluj who is familiar with all the islands in this part of the Red Sea, said he had never heard about the discovery of skeletons on these islands, which number about 100, except on Umm Al-Malik.