Four families visit the seashore here holding out hope that their sons who failed to return from a fishing trip almost one month ago will be returned to them. On Jan. 1, five young men, from four families, set out from Al-Laith on an overnight fishing trip and never returned. “They used to go fishing together in this area. They left home on Thursday and were expected to come back around Friday evening. When they didn't show up, we had to report them missing,” said Rayaan Sarhan, brother of two of the missing young men, Ahmed Sarhan and Shady Sarhan. The fatal fishing trip started out from Al-Mojirmah in Al-Laith with six men, five of them Saudis between the ages of 19 and 26, Turki Al-Ahmadi, Ahmed Basa'ad, Abdulmajeed Al-Jihani, Shady Sarhan and his brother Ahmed Sarhan, and the Yemani boat driver Khalid Barbood known as “Birbish.” “They had known the boat driver for a long time and they didn't like to go on fishing trips unless they went in his boat because they felt that he knew the area very well,” said Sarhan. According to the families of the missing men, the search for them did not begin until 24 hours after they were reported missing. “The only thing that the Coast Guard found was the boat submerged about 20 miles away from shore without any of the belongings of the young men. Even the chairs of the boat were missing, all of which raises a lot of questions about what happened to the six men,” said Sarhan. Colonel Ahmed Al-Juaid, the head of the Coast Guard search team, said the search is still on with the team starting out early in the morning and searching until sunset with the hope of finding some new information. “We are conducting the search according to a plan made by Coast Guard officials in that area. The search team is being assisted by 40 divers and specialists in such situations,” said Al-Juaid. Ayshah Al-Ahmadi, the grandmother of Turki Al-Ahmadi, one of the missing men, said that she had warned her grandson about going on the fishing trip, but that he did not heed to her advice. “I told him not to go, but he insisted on going fishing with his friends saying that there was nothing to be afraid of,” she said. “Now he has not come back and we only want to know whether he is alive or not.” Hopes are still high in some of the families that their sons will be returned to them. “We will never stop looking for them. Some people told us about missing people being found in Yemen and Sudan. We went to check, but they were not the people we were looking for. Some of the families are starting to lose hope as the search has continued for almost one month,” said Sarhan. The sea can be a dangerous place with simple fishing trips ending in disaster. “In the past, I used to enjoy going fishing and diving every now and then with my friends, but I stopped it after one of our friends was lost in the sea,” said Alaa Jamal Al-Lail, 34, a private company employee. “What happened to the six missing men is not known. They may have been kidnapped or attacked by sharks. We only hope that they are still alive,” said Ayshah Al
