A 70-year-old man sailed across an 8-km span of sea, with a truck on board two boats that were tied together.
Ali Suhail took his Toyota Hilux from the Farasan Island to Qimah, making it only the third vehicle to reach the island in years.
More than 200 island inhabitants welcomed Suhail as he arrived.
Farasan is an archipelago in the Red Sea of 84 small islands, about 50 kilometers to the west of Jazan. The biggest of the islands is also called Farasan. Some of the islets are uninhabited and serve as sanctuaries for wildlife.
Suhail said he risked his life among ferocious waves and insisted on taking his truck, which he had bought with his savings when he was a fisherman, despite the obstacles. “The residents here are very fond of the sea and take up fishing as a profession because it is an important source of income and a practice they inherited from their ancestors,” he said. “Fishing is also a suitable job opportunity for their children.”
Suhail complained of the lack of basic services on the island, saying the situation has not improved despite the fact that several ministerial committees have visited the island — which is reachable from the main island of Farasan by sea — to assess the situation.
