MAKKAH — A citizen drowned in a 35-meter deep hole after his car fell into it. Makkah Civil Defense spokesman Col. Saeed Sarhan said the victim had fallen with his vehicle into the hole. "The Civil Defense are always up to date with their posts on Twitter and we post accurate and transparent information. The Civil Defense had given its best to save Al-Ghamdi regardless of what could have happened based on evidence and facts," said Sarhan. He added the Civil Defense received a call from the victim on Friday 5:36 a.m. "We were able to locate the victim within 30 seconds of the call. The call lasted for three minutes but the Civil Defense had deployed its scuba divers and search parties in less than a minute after the location of the victim was defined," said Sarhan. He added the Civil Defense had given instructions to save the man at all costs even if they had to break the windows of the car. "The man took his last breath as he was on the phone. He recited the Shahadah and then the phone hung up. We tried again but couldn't get through," said Sarhan. He also said the search party arrived at the location within five minutes but the victim had already died and his vehicle was completely submerged. "The scuba divers and search parties were injected with several vaccines for their safety as they spent six hours searching for the victim's body in the deep hole. The hole had sewage water and poisonous chemicals which obstructed the job of the scuba divers," said Sarhan. He added the Civil Defense had 14 scuba divers on the rescue mission and they all went for further vaccination after the lengthy search. Mohammad Al-Ghamdi said he will not rest until the people responsible for the death of his son be penalized. "Al-Rihaili construction project was incomplete for years. The people of the neighborhood had urged the municipality to complete it several times but to no avail. Such negligence is costly to the general public. My son was the victim of such negligence and his family will be paying the price," said Al-Ghamdi. Saeed Al-Siraihi said there are many such holes in Al-Rihaili Neighborhood. "My neighbors and I have reported the holes to the municipality and it replied that the holes are not within their jurisdiction as these construction projects are under the National Water Company. We reported the holes to the National Water Company but nothing was done. The contractor of Al-Rihaili project was previously penalized for procrastination in a different project as well," said Al-Siraihi. He added the contractor only put concrete barriers around the cisterns but left the cisterns exposed. "These holes or incomplete cisterns are left unattended to and unmaintained which leads to sewage water contaminating the area. Mosquitoes and insects conglomerate in these holes and the entire neighborhood becomes unclean and unsafe for children and adults alike," said Al-Siraihi.
