JEDDAH, 29 November 2005 — Amal Khadija Wahba, the mother of Mufareh Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, who died while scuba diving near Al-Rayes on Eid day, has presented a complaint to Jeddah Governor Prince Mishaal ibn Majed demanding an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her son’s death.
Al-Ghamdi, 23, was diving with the owner of a famous diving store in Jeddah, and three others on the first day of Eid, when he disappeared.
“I have questions that I want answered. How can the Coast Guard spend all day looking for my son and not find him, but when the store owner goes in, they find him in five minutes? Why didn’t he go in from the beginning or call me to tell me my son had died?” Wahba said.
“Also, according to the Coast Guard’s investigator, when the boys were separated and questioned during the investigation, they all told different stories. This needs to be looked into further. Why were the boys not detained and questioned properly? These questions remain unanswered and that is why I want a higher authority such as the governor’s office to look into the circumstances surrounding my son’s death,” she told Arab News.
Wahba also wants the Coast Guard to look into whether her son was licensed to dive or not. “If not, then what business did the dive store have selling, or lending, him scuba equipment,” Wahba said.
When Al-Ghamdi’s body was eventually found 26 hours after his disappearance, he was still wearing his weight belt, but not his buoyancy compensation device (BCD) that allows one to float on the surface.
Diving instructors Arab News spoke to said that Al-Ghamdi most likely removed his BCD, forgetting that his weight belt was still on, and when he did so, he quickly sank; this is a simple yet fatal mistake. Having “learned” to scuba dive seven months ago, Al-Ghamdi already had several dives under his belt and among his friends and family, he was considered to be somewhat experienced.
The mother, however, is certain that her son was never properly certified and did not own his equipment.
“He simply couldn’t afford it, and I never gave him the money,” Wahba said.
When Arab News spoke to the store owner three weeks ago, he said Al-Ghamdi was trained by a Saudi instructor at his store seven months ago and said he would provide the instructor’s telephone number. He has since failed to do so and subsequent requests for information have been refused. When Arab News visited the store on Sunday, this journalist was asked to leave the store, having been threatened with physical harm.
“The friends who took him scuba diving have been evasive and uncooperative from the start. They have threatened to sue me if I went to the newspapers with this. They never called to pay their respects, only to threaten me and my family,” Wahba said.
“My son had no business scuba diving if he hadn’t been properly trained. He never had a certificate or certification card nor did he have a Coast Guard license. When he was being taught by the store owner, I was comfortable to some degree because I assumed that because he owned a store, he was an instructor, and it was for that reason that I had allowed my son to go with them all the time to spear fish. If I had known that he was not an instructor, I would have made sure my son learned the right way,” Wahba told Arab News.
The mother is also frustrated by several circumstances and complications surrounding her son’s death and burial. “There are several other unanswered questions that remain in my mind,” she told Arab News.
“My son’s death certificate (of which Arab News has a copy) stated that the cause of death was unknown and that an autopsy was required because there was a great deal of blood coming from his ears and nose, which the Coast Guard told me is not typical in a drowning. But because his father practically divorced me and virtually left his children 20 years ago, he did not want to be bothered with all this, and ended everything by canceling the scheduled autopsy and burying Mufareh against my will. His father said he wanted to be rid of him and all his problems as quickly as possible. By burying him, he prevented the investigation,” a weeping Wahba told Arab News.
“These are the reasons that I have presented my complaint to Prince Mishaal,” she explained.
