A Saudi Good Samaritan helped rescue 16 frightened Indonesian domestic workers who were stranded in an isolated area near a major highway.

A Saudi citizen who was driving through the area with his family was shocked when he spotted the group huddled together at an isolated spot 5 km from the highway. He immediately alerted the police, who swung into action and rescued them.

“I was shocked by the sight of the women in this isolated area and I drove toward them,” Abdul Rahman Al-Harbi told a local daily. “When we got near them, my family and I could see that they were scared and worried, especially since it was dusk and darkness was setting in. One of the women was carrying a baby who we discovered was only 2 months old.”

He said one of the women told him they had no legal residency documents and that they had been cheated by a smuggler.

“She said that he had promised to drive them from the Saudi capital Riyadh to Makkah, but dropped them off in this isolated area and drove away,” Abdul Rahman said. “They did not have any means to contact anyone. I called the highway patrol and they took care of the women.”

The pathetic condition of the women found support from people on social media networks, many of them seeking stringent action by the police against the trafficker for cheating and abusing the domestics.

Some, however, stressed that domestics and other foreigners should be more careful and abide by the law to avoid being cheated or abused.

Traffickers use the Haj season in and around Makkah to transport domestic helps and workers to the holy city with promises of highly lucrative deals because of the heavy demand for their services.

Around 2.5 million Muslims, including 1.4 million foreigners, congregate in the city to perform Haj, the fifth pillar of Islam, incumbent on all physically fit and financially able Muslims at least once in their lifetime.