JEDDAH: The father of a teenager who recently lost his life after his car fell into a trench dug up for a sewage project here has decided to file a case against four government agencies.

Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ghamdi, aged 17, drove into the trench in the Al-Ruhaili area of north Jeddah around 5:30 a.m. on Friday and died before being rescued.

The boy’s father was quoted as saying by local media on Monday that he would include the Civil Defense, Traffic Department, National Water Company (NWC) and the Jeddah Municipality in the lawsuit. The man described the trench, which is 126 feet deep and 30 square meters wide, as a “death hole.”

“I will sue the four government agencies because they failed to perform their tasks so that no one in the neighborhood would fall into the ‘death hole,’ which has been there for six years. I will sue the Civil defense for their failure to monitor the safety of innocent lives,” the father was quoted as saying.

The Traffic Department is also to blame for not ensuring the safety of motorists because the location did not have sufficient warning signs and light to prevent vehicles from falling into the trench, he said.

“The NWC, the implementing body of the project, did not care much for the safety of citizens and did not install enough barriers or apply the correct safety standards in its project,” he said.

According to the father, the municipality is also to blame for failing to monitor such projects and for being the body of jurisdiction for issuing permits to dig holes in residential areas.

Lt. Col. Saeed bin Sarhan, spokesman of the Civil Defense in Makkah, said the civil safety agency always follows up on these projects and demands that the implementing body install barriers and fences, along with instructions or warning signs to maintain the safety of people.

“However, traffic safety is not our responsibility. Our main responsibility is the safety of lives,” he was quoted as saying.

The teenager’s car was left hanging half inside the hole with the other half outside, and the Civil Defense came to the rescue after a telephone call from the victim himself, who told them that he couldn’t swim. However, the phone got cut moments after he uttered the two testimonies of faith. The body was removed from the trench at 1:30 p.m..