Saudi Red Crescent teams in the Kingdom generally find it difficult to reach accident sites or offer the desired rescue and emergency services in time.

A Saudi official from the Red Crescent Authority has recently developed a technology which can be adapted by smartphones through using the WhatsApp messaging system to send distress messages to access emergency services quickly and efficiently.

“A person in distress can send a message to the Red Crescent describing his exact location to be rescued,” Naif Sief Al-Ahmedi, a senior official of the Saudi Red Crescent in the Madinah region who developed the technology, told Arab News. He added that he had submitted the innovative technology to the headquarters for approval.

The new technology will be particularly helpful for foreign visitors to Madinah who face a language barrier and often can’t say where they are located as they are unfamiliar with the geography of the holy city, he said.

Al-Ahmedi explained that although there were helicopters and rapid ground rescue teams on the ready, sometimes it was just very difficult to reach the accident sites in time.

“Now, by simply pressing a button, the person in distress will be able to help us navigate the location and reach the spot to provide the necessary aid and rescue operations,” Al-Ahmedi said.

He said that after the formal approval from the higher authorities, the new system will be unveiled and will help callers in general and road accident victims in particular.

He said that the Saudi Red Crescent Authority has state-of-the-art technology operation rooms to access accident sites in no time and this new feature will only enhance and facilitate the existing emergency infrastructure through following directions on a message posted on WhatsApp.

“The Red Crescent receives on average 250 calls per day in the Madinah region alone,” he said, pointing out that the operations room in Madinah has a fleet of several helicopters and ambulances backed by paramedics to reach accident victims and provide them with first aid and transport them to hospitals.

Al-Ahmedi said that the Red Crescent used similar technology during the last Haj season in the two holy cities for the first time.

“Multilingual assistants were also deployed to receive emergency calls in 11 languages in Mina during Haj,” he said, adding that the authority had integrated the navigation system with the public transport company, SAPTCO for easy access to accident sites.