JEDDAH: The death toll from the Nov. 25 floods in Jeddah has reached 124.
“A body was recovered from an area of drained stagnant water in Sawaed district on Monday. It has been sent for forensic investigations,” said the Civil Defense’s Media Director for Emergency Cases Brig. Muhammad Al-Qarni.
DNA tests had also helped identify five bodies that had been discovered recently, Al-Qarni added. The victims’ names had previously appeared in a list of 37 people who had been reported missing after the disaster.
They are 50-year-old Saudi Khadr Al-Sulami, 32-year-old Indian Ilyas Ismail, 32-year-old Yemeni Suleiman Khadri, 23-year-old Yemeni Najla Abdul Jaleel, and nine-year-old Moroccan Ahmad Al-Falah.
Col. Muhammad Al-Shaabani of the Civil Defense, who is in charge of aquatic search and rescue, told Arab News that efforts were being made to identify the dead body. “DNA tests will be conducted to determine whether he is from the list of missing people. Blood samples have already been collected from the relatives of all those who are missing so that the identification process can be conducted quickly,” Al-Shaabani added. He believed that more bodies might be found as a thorough search was launched in the same area where the latest victim was discovered.
