RIYADH, 26 April 2004 — The bomb explosion that rocked the capital last week also claimed the life of an 11-year-old girl. Wijdan Al-Kanderi had just returned home that fateful Wednesday and was looking forward to the weekend. She was feeding the pigeons in the yard of her house when the bomb went off. She was killed by flying debris.
Wijdan was to get a prize for her excellence in handicraft at the school assembly on Saturday. She was said to have been extraordinarily happy on her last day at school.
“How can she die? I just saw her at school,” demanded her best friend, Sarah Al-Mutairy. Wijdan and Sarah were inseparable: They would work, play and run in the school compound together.
“I asked her why she was so happy and she said it was because she was going to get a prize,” Sarah said.
Sarah said Wijdan was full of smiles. Unusually, she had hugged Sarah on Wednesday and told her, “I love you a lot.”
“Wijdan was a well-disciplined and enthusiastic girl who never had a bad word for anyone in the school,” said the headmistress of her primary school.
She added that the girl’s cheerful nature attracted a large group of friends. “It is a sad loss to the whole school,” she said. “We still cannot believe that Wijdan is no longer with us. I can still see her running round the school playing hide and seek,” she added.
Meanwhile, two babies, who were among the 148 injured in the blast — a 10-month-old Eritrean and a one-year-old Sudanese — were discharged after treatment from a local hospital.
“This was a ruthless action by the people responsible for this disaster which injured so many,” said a close relative of one of the babies.
Four of the six patients sent to the intensive care unit at the Riyadh Central Hospital have been moved to the general ward. “The remaining two are out of danger,” said a spokesperson from the hospital.
Eighty-three people were admitted to the Riyadh Medical Complex and seven are undergoing treatment in the general ward for leg wounds.
“Of the 32 bomb victims admitted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH) only five are still receiving in-house treatment,” said Hamoud Al-Otaibi of the KFSH.
