JEDDAH — The General Directorate of Border Guards said its sea and land patrols and its search and rescue teams have saved and evacuated from imminent danger as many as 73 people of various nationalities during the past six months. In a statistical report published by Al-Watan newspaper on Monday, the Border Guards said it had rescued two persons from the United Arab Emirates whose car broke down in a remote area in Empty Quarter (Rub' Al Khali desert) and an 8-year-old Yemeni boy who was about to drown in a swimming pool in Ubhor. The people whom the guards had rescued consisted of two persons who were lost in mid-sea in Makkah region after disembarking from their boat for diving, a citizen who fell down from a rock in Umluj, another citizen who almost drowned in Asir, a Kuwaiti and his Indian companion whose boat capsized in the Saudi Red Sea territorial waters and a sailor from the Philippines who broke his left arm while he was on an oil tanker in the Red Sea. The guards were able to salvage an Ukrainian who had bleeding in the upper section of his digestive organ while on a passenger ship and eight people whose boat broke down in the Red Sea in Makkah region. It said it was also able to rescue four children who were washed away into deep sea while picnicking with their family in Haqil shore and three people whose boat capsized in Tabuk. The Border Guards said they rescued a Turkish expatriate from drowning in Asir and six citizens whose boat capsized in Khafji near the border with Kuwait. The rescue operations also included a French sailor who started bleeding while on a sail boat near Farasan Island, an American who also had internal bleeding and 31 people whose cargo ship was completely burnt down in the Red Sea in addition to a French woman who broke her leg while on a tourist ship in the Red sea. The 73 people rescued by the border guard consisted of 26 Saudis and 47 non-Saudis from Egypt, Britain, the UAE, India, France, the Philippines, Sudan, Britain, the US, Kuwait, Ukraine, Turkey and Yemen.
