Ahmad Al-Qirashi drove for 10 hours with the body of his wife Umm Rayan in the front seat after she passed away while the family was in Alkhobar. She had suffered from asthma-related problems.
“I contacted all local health-care facilities to complete the procedures and take the body back to Riyadh. However, no one paid any heed to my distress call,” he said.
“I was forced to drive hundreds of kilometers along the Dammam-Riyadh Expressway with a heavy heart, while my five sons, sitting on the back seat of the car, did not know what had happened to their mother,” Ahmad said.
Riyadh resident Ahmad told Shams Arabic daily on Wednesday that he holds the Saudi Red Crescent, local hospitals and police authorities in Alkhobar responsible after they turned down his request to help transport the body home.
The tragic story of Ahmad began when he and his family set out for Alkhobar last Wednesday. They rented out an apartment and spent Thursday evening on the Corniche. They returned to the apartment in the early hours of Friday.
“Soon afterward, Umm Rayan's health condition worsened. Precisely at 4 a.m., she experienced severe breathing problems; she rushed to the kitchen and drank water, which ended up being the last drop she had,” Ahmad said.
“The oxygen cylinder that we kept during our trip could not help save her life.”
Ahmad says that he called for a Red Crescent ambulance to take her to the hospital.
“They came only after 60 minutes. The doctor in the team confirmed that she had died nearly one hour ago. They refused my request to take the body to a nearby hospital so it could be embalmed, and they left,” he said.
The bereaved Saudi man then contacted nearby private hospitals.
“They also refused and suggested I approach a government hospital. Their argument was that they could only receive the bodies of foreigners and not that of citizens,” he said.
Ahmad also said he had difficulties getting a police report so he could transport the body to Riyadh.
“At last, as per the advice of a doctor, I decided to take the body to Riyadh in my car. The gatekeeper of the apartment helped me to sit the body on the front seat of the car and fasten it with the seat belt. We covered the body with a blanket and put some ice on it,” he said.
Ahmad was in tears the whole way back, in contrast to his lovely trip to Alkhobar, which he said was full of joy and laughter with his wife.
“Now she is no more. I could not come to terms with the reality. It was highly disturbing for me when the children asked every now and then about what had happened to their mother while I was taking the body to Riyadh,” he added.
“I tried to pacify them by saying that she was sick and suffering from high fever. My eldest son put ice on her body, wishing her a speedy recovery. The younger son tried to pull away the blanket. They were also playing, shouting and laughing. It was a great struggle for me to calm them while driving the car.”
He said he breathed a sigh of relief when his brother and other relatives joined him at a location 200 km from Riyadh.
“I could not control myself and burst into tears when I saw my sons screaming when they realized their mother was dead when we took the body for washing,” he added.
