RIYADH, 3 July 2004 — Four hundred and five Indians died in the Central and Eastern Province in the last six months, according to the Indian Embassy. An embassy spokesman said 223 died of natural causes and the rest of unnatural causes.
Most of the unnatural deaths were in road accidents, while terrorist attacks claimed eight lives. One three-and-a-half-year-old child drowned in the Eastern Province. Some two percent of the deaths occurred at construction sites, he said. Among the natural causes, 95 percent were heart attacks.
That a comparatively large number of Indian expatriates die here was also evident from a survey conducted by the labor welfare section of the Indian Embassy last year. The survey found that
some 251 Indians died in the three months between October and December in the Central and Eastern Provinces.
The embassy spokesman said the findings showed the need to be careful on the Kingdom’s roads. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest road fatality rates in the world.
