Living alone has its perks and perils, and perils it was for Mohammed Amjad Ali, an Indian expatriate who was found dead at his place of accommodation with scratches to his chest after apparently dying of a heart attack.

Mohammed died in Jeddah’s Salamah District on Monday after being unable to call for help.
He also had bite marks to his tongue, which was protruding when he was found.

Like many expats, Mohammed lived alone, and like many victims, he may well have survived had he been rescued on time, doctors told his friends.

Mohammed had reportedly called his wife at midnight, telling her he wasn’t feeling well.

She became frantic the next morning when he didn’t pick up, after which she pleaded with neighbors to ask friends and relatives living in Jeddah to go check up on him.

Sadath Ali, a young expat living in the Kingdom, managed to find his place of accommodation but found the door locked.

Ali heard the phones ringing inside as he called, after which he forced the door open in the presence of bystanders and found Mohammed’s body.

The body was shifted to King Fahd Hospital after local police visited the site.

Doctors determined the time of death to be 1 a.m. and said that he would have survived had he received cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Mohammed’s residency permit had expired a long time ago and he had no regular job or source of income, factors which had forced him to stay in the Kingdom for nine years without traveling back home, said family members.

He leaves behind three children who were babies when he had left them to come work in the Kingdom. “These children can’t even remember their father’s face,” said relatives.