Manama: A woman had a lucky escape after she jumped out of a moving vehicle to avoid being kidnapped by a car thief.
The car owner had left the car with the engine running and his wife in the passenger seat on Sunday evening in the city of Taif in western Saudi Arabia. He reportedly saw an accident and wanted to have a closer look at the collision.
A thief got inside the car and started to drive it away, prompting his wife to open the door and jump out, local news site Sabq reported. She sustained light injuries.
The police, alerted about the carjacking, contacted the traffic patrols and were able to locate the vehicle and arrest the thief.
Online users paid tribute to the wife for her courage and decision to jump out of the moving car, but harshly criticised her husband for his recklessness.
“You have been entrusted with a wife by her family and here you put her at risk because of your senseless and reckless behaviour,” Al Shair, a blogger, said. “It is obvious that you need a custodian to take care of you since you are not up to the trust placed in you.”
Al Sarem called for stringent action.
“The driver should be punished for getting out of his car to look at an accident, leaving the engine running and an innocent wife inside the vehicle,” he posted. “The thief should also be severely punished for the carjacking and putting a woman’s life in danger.”
Carjacking incidents are rare in the Gulf, although drivers tend to leave their cars with the engine running as they dash into shops.
Last week a man was arrested in Bahrain following the theft of a car with a child inside it in the village of Dar Kulaib.
The interior ministry said in a statement that the car — with the infant still inside — was located within an hour of the crime report thanks to the use of CCTV.
The suspect was arrested less than 12 hours later and referred to the public prosecutor.
