JEDDAH, 4 July 2004 — A young Sudanese man died yesterday while riding a jetski in Obhur Creek north of Jeddah. Despite extensive searches by divers in the area, his body was not recovered from the bottom of the creek until some three hours after the accident.
The victim, who was on holiday from Riyadh with a group of friends, was between 16 and 18 years old.
Reports from holidaymakers along the shoreline, who raised the alarm and contacted the Coast Guard at the mouth of the creek, said the incident occurred between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.
“The Coast Guard responded very quickly to the call,” said Eric Mason, the manager of Dream Divers near the Obhur Holiday Resort beach. “They were on site extremely quickly with 10 divers, four boats and an inflatable boat.”
Mason was called by the Coast Guard to assist in the search operation and dispatched a large custom dive-boat with two teams of divers from among the staff.
“Visibility on the bottom at 15 meters was average,” said Mason, “but movement of the search teams stirred up the mud.”
After repeated search attempts, Mason with his dive-master colleague Ronnie eventually found the body at midday. “The young man was not wearing any lifejacket or safety equipment,” Mason told Arab News.
“We don’t know all the facts yet,” he said, “but the victim had not taken the basic precaution of wearing a lifejacket.”
The relatively calm waters of Obhur Creek are popular with jetski fanatics, who ride the wake of passing boats. The sport is growing in popularity and there are increasing concerns about the safety of the riders, other craft and wildlife when they are operating.
Currently unregulated in the Kingdom, jetskis — or personal water craft (PWC) as they are termed in the US — are subject to much the same regulation as larger boats.
Nearly all US state laws now have a minimum age requirement for operating a PWC, and over 30 states require that an adult be on board when a minor is driving. All states now require PWC operators and passengers to wear inflatable vests.
Some states have set specific speed limits for PWCs, and the majority of states have prohibited zones for their use. Nearly all states now have specific limitations on wake-jumping, a very popular pastime in Obhur.
