ABHA, 18 May 2008 — A 14-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother drowned while swimming in a pond in a valley outside Khamis Mushayt.
“Haya Muhammad, 14, and her brother Abdullah Muhammad, 7, died while swimming in a pond in a valley near Moussa where they were picnicking with their parents,” said Maj. Muhammad Al-Asimi, spokesman for the Asir Civil Defense.
Al-Asimi said the youngsters’ 17-year-old sister, Jamila, who was also swimming in the pond, was rescued by the Civil Defense and was taken to Khamis Mushayt General Hospital. He added that though she regained consciousness in hospital, her condition remains critical.
“The muddy pond had formed because of heavy rain last week. There were bushes and uprooted trees below the surface of the water,” said Al-Asimi, warning people not to swim in ponds and lagoons in the region.
“Submerged bushes and muddy floors are fatal, even for experienced swimmers,” he said.
Flashfloods have been reported across the Kingdom with several villages around Abha cut off. On Wednesday, a family was rescued after their car was caught in a flashflood in the Zahour district of the region.
Seven members of a family drowned while out picnicking in the waterlogged Hisn Valley of Najran. A five-year-old boy initially stumbled into a pond and was followed by six members of his family, who ran to his aid.
On Monday, hundreds of sheep were carried away in floodwaters in the town of Habuna in Najran, which saw heavy rains last week. And on Sunday, two Nepali workers drowned in a lake in the Qassim area.
