Saudi Arabia: Body of missing boy found in Mecca flooded wadi
The boy drowned along with 3 sisters after family car swept away
Cairo: After two days of searching, Saudi Civil Defence and volunteers recovered the body of a four-year-old boy who, along with his three sisters, died when their family's car was trapped by floods in the holy city of Mecca.
The accident occurred last week in Wadi Al Maghmas, a valley in eastern Mecca, where the car had been swept away by severe flooding.
The tragedy occurred when the car swerved due to flooding caused by torrential rains and was swept away by a powerful current. The vehicle then crashed into a local farm's wall and stuck there, according to Okaz newspaper.
The Arab expatriate family included the parents and six children.
Civil Defence personnel managed to rescue the parents and two of their children, aged 13 and two years. The other four — three girls and a boy — were swept away by the flooding. The bodies of the three girls were recovered earlier.
Over the following days, Civil Defence and volunteer teams searched the entire wadi for the boy's body. The corpse was found lying in a pool of floodwaters within the wadi, according to Okaz.
Last week, Mecca was hit by heavy rains accompanied by lightning and thunder. Similarly, several parts of Saudi Arabia have recently experienced erratic weather, including heavy rains that led to flooding, causing widespread damage and fatalities.
Two young men drowned at a rain-affected picnic spot in the Al Lith governorate, part of the Mecca region.
One man initially jumped into a waterfall in the area, and the other rushed to save him. Both men drowned, according to the Saudi news portal Sabq. Their bodies were recovered later.
The Saudi National Centre of Meteorology has forecast medium-to-heavy rains, accompanied by hail showers and dust-laden winds, to continue on Saturday in parts of Jazan, Asir, and Al Baha, extending to the southern areas of Mecca.