The Saudi Embassy in Australia issued here today a statement on the circumstances that led to the missing of Hassan Mohammed Al Qahtani who is studying at the University of Wollongong (UOW) and has been missing since Thursday (April 02, 2009) when he went to sea for swimming on Wollongong beach. The statement elaborated the efforts that had been made by the Embassy and the Australian authorities to find him, adding that the Saudi Ambassador to Australia, Hassan Talaat Nazer, and the Saudi Cultural Attaché Dr. Ali Al Beshri had visited the site of the incident and held a meeting with Australian police in the presence of the missing student's family. The Australian officials provided an explanation on the quick actions undertaken as soon as they had been informed about it, deploying a 47 members rescue team along with a search-helicopter and in cooperation with the city municipality as well as a number of volunteers. "The Embassy continues follow-up search procedures with the Australian authorities to learn about the fate of the missing student. The Embassy received at 5.30 AM on Thursday, April 02, 2009 a telephone call from a Saudi national who informed that the Saudi post graduate student on Scholarship - Hasan Mohammed Mohammed Al Qahtani from Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA) was missing after he went to the sea for swimming, and that the police reached the scene within 15 minutes and that the police could not find him," the statement said. "The Saudi Embassy assigned an embassy official to travel to the city of Wollongong to follow up the investigation and findings about Al-Qahtani's disappearance. The findings had shown that Al-Qahtani and three of his colleagues had gone to a nearby restaurant and had left the restaurant at 21.30 midnight. At 01.30 hour, the missing student and two of his colleagues had gone to the sea for swimming despite high waves and strong winds which were not suitable for swimming at that time. While they were in the water, Al Qahtani was ahead of the rest of his colleagues, and then he was hit by high waves and subsequently submerged into the sea while the others managed to return back to the beach. He was seen from a distance of 20 meters, and then disappeared from the surface. In the meantime, the missing student's family called Ambassador Nazer and expressed their desire to travel to Australia as soon as possible. On his part, the Ambassador coordinated with the Australian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Kevin Magee to offer help and grant visas for relatives. The father of the student and three of the student's relatives arrived in Australia on Sunday, April 09, 2009 and were received by the Embassy and their travel to the site of the incident was facilitated," the statement disclosed. "The embassy is currently following up search procedures with the Australian authorities for further clarifications about the fate of the missing student," the statement said.
