HAIL — The Hail Municipality, Road Administration, Hail University and Hail Region Traffic Department will all stand trial before the Administrative Court under charges of causing the accident that took place 18 months ago and led to the death of 13 female students and two drivers, Al-Watan reported Friday. While the four government authorities were among the six-member committee of investigators, the four are now facing charges after they blamed the dead driver as responsible for the accident. The committee also referred the case to Al-Hail Court to demand payment of the blood-money estimated at SR3 million. However, royal directives had instructed the National Anti-corruption Commission (Nazaha) to re-investigate. The committee said the cause of the accident were two consecutive potholes on the road. The two drivers tried to avoid the potholes but collided head-on. They concluded that, the accident took place due to negligence and violations by government authorities. Nazaha referred the results of its investigation to the Control and Investigation Board that in turn sent the case to the Administrative Court. Abdul Aziz Al-Hoshani, the lawyer of the driver and the female students, said he would demand compensation of SR1 million for the family of each victim. He said he had sent a cable to the king demanding the authorities to take to task those responsible for the accident and “to deal with this accident the way flood victims are dealt with.” Al-Hoshani added that a previous committee for investigating the accident issued a report blaming the driver, as he did not avoid the two potholes on the road. Al-Hoshani said this conclusion of the probe “is incorrect and unreal.” — SG
