Saudi: Family of 3 drown in rain-lashed valley
Saudi civil defence teams retrieved the body of a dead child after the bodies of his parents had been recovered from a rain-lashed valley, local media reported Sunday.
The Saudi family of three drowned in the valley Friday when the child fell into a pit filled with rainwaters while he was playing in the valley in the Governorate of Ranyah, part of the Saudi western region of Mecca.
The father tried unsuccessfully to save the son, prompting the mother to make a failed bid to rescue them, Saudi newspaper Okaz said.
Locals managed to recover the bodies of the man and his wife, while the body of their child was later hauled out by the civil defence teams.
The pit, where the incident happened, reportedly resulted from the removal of sand by an unidentified company and was later submerged with water from torrential rains.
Residents of Ranyah and neighbouring governorates mourned the three victims and accused what they branded as “thieves of sand” of leaving behind pits that are flooded with rain in the rain season.
Governor of Mecca Prince Khaled Al Faisal has offered condolences to the larger family of the three.
