Woman drowns in Corniche accident
Jeddah, July 10: An 18-year-old woman was reported drowned in the Red Sea off Jeddah’s Corniche Thursday morning. The body has not been found and a search operation continued late into the evening.
“We received a distress call at 10 a.m. from a bystander who was on the sidewalk saying a person was drowning in the sea,” said Lt. Saleh Al-Sheri of the Border Guard.
The young woman, who is presumed dead, was in her second year of high school. She was seen eating breakfast near the Nawrus roundabout on the Corniche with her father and siblings. The circumstances that led to her drowning aren’t clear, but she reportedly walked out on a concrete slab near a sewage output pipe and might have fallen into the water in a no-swim zone.
Border Guard hovercraft were dispatched to the scene along with 28 divers to search for the woman.
The divers were given tetanus shots before going to the water because of the presence of sewage. The Border Guard personnel act as the coast guards and are the first responders to sea-related accidents.
There was no official word on the whereabouts of the woman’s father. According to eyewitness accounts, he has been moved to a hospital.
Authorities asked the municipality to turn off the sewage output pipe so the current from the outward flow wouldn’t send the body out to sea.
Authorities aren’t aware of previous incidents of drowning in the vicinity although the area has numerous signs warning people to stay out of the water.
—Agencies