Makkah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah

Makkah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah has ordered the formation of a quartet committee to investigate the death of a man and his son after the boy fell into an open manhole and his father tried to rescue him near a mall on a Jeddah street.

The committee, comprising representatives from the Makkah governorate, Jeddah municipality, police and the Civil Defense, will look into Civil Defense investigations to ascertain who is to blame for the neglect that led to the accident.

Preliminary investigations had been referred to Jeddah police.

The committee is due to submit its recommendations over the next two days after listening to the views of all parties concerned.

Meanwhile, a video clip released by Al-Arabiya has revealed the full details of the accident.

The channel interviewed officials and relatives of the two victims.

The tragedy had struck during the early hours of Thursday morning when the five-year-old stumbled and fell into an open manhole, 90 cm wide and up to three meters deep, in front of a commercial mall on Jeddah’s Tahlia Street.

The father, who was in his 30s, went in after his son to save him, while the mother cried for help.

Yasser Al-Ghami, a security patrol corporal who was in the area, immediately intervened and tried to save the man, who clung onto his son’s hand, but the oil inside the hole made him slip, hitting his head on the way down.

A Saudi citizen had also tried to rescue the man, who was alive for two minutes after hitting his head.

The Civil Defense immediately reported to the scene and pulled the bodies out of the hole.

 
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