DAMMAM, 23 January — The mystery surrounding the identity of a decomposing corpse found floating in the sea near Al-Marjan oil field near Al-Khafji last December has further deepened with the discovery by a border guard of another body on Aziziah beach, near Alkhobar.
The first corpse, drifting in the sea off the coast of Al- Safwaniyah in Khafji, disappeared below the surface, apparently after completely decomposing. The failure of the authorities to pick up the corpse because of bureaucratic wrangling was widely criticized.
The second body has been identified as Jaafar Salman Hasan, a Bahraini who went to sea a few days before the first corpse was spotted. As his abandoned boat was seen last December drifting in the high seas, it was assumed by his family that the decomposed corpse was his.
However, since the new corpse has now been formally identified by his family, the identity of the first has once again become shrouded in mystery.
Ibrahim Salman Hasan and other relatives of Jaafar went to Dammam Central Hospital last Wednesday to collect the body in order to take it back to Bahrain.
The relatives reportedly protested to the hospital authorities about the way they and the body were treated when the body was handed over to them in a plain plastic bag.
