When village wells become death traps

MANY abandoned wells left open in the Baha region have become death traps for both people and animals. The opening of most of these wells surrounded by bushes and not visible to passerby, thus exposing humans and livestock to danger. And any human being or animal who perchance falls into one of these wells will remain unnoticed. The residents of Baha blame the Civil Defense for people falling into such dangerous wells. They say the Civil Defense should have taken the initiative to construct walls around these wells and put sign boards warning people against the danger. They said the authorities should be aware of the danger posed by these wells to public safety and take quick action by either constructing fences around them or filling them. Wael Bin Abdul Aziz, a Saudi resident of Baha, attributed the presence of wells without protective walls to joint ownership of land. Two or more people might own a particular piece of land and each one of them would think constructing a wall around the well is not his duty. Abdul Aziz called upon elders in the community to make sure walls are constructed around abandoned wells in their villages. Fouad Saeed, another resident, proposed that the Baha governorate and the Civil Defense contract a company to construct walls around all abandoned wells in the region, following the necessary standard and ask well owners to bear the cost. “Last month, a camel fell in an open well located in an agricultural area in a village in Mandaq governorate and the authorities had a hard time getting the camel out of the 20-meter deep well,” he pointed out. “Most of these open wells are covered by plants and bushes and humans and animals could easily miss them, thus fall into them,” Saeed said, and urged the authorities to take punitive action against people who do not take safety measures while constructing wells. Saeed Abdullah Al-Zahrani blamed the Civil Defense and village chiefs for the recurring accidents related to open wells as they do not report the owners of these wells to the authorities to take action. “The Civil Defense and security police should summons owners of such wells and force them to construct fences around them.” Faris Al-Ghamdi, a young resident, has another idea. He proposed an award for the village that constructs walls around all its open wells. “The governor will present this award after inspecting the condition of wells in the region by a joint panel including officials from the Civil Defense and the governorate,” he said. Al-Ghamdi urged authorities to punish people who construct wells without fences. “We have to put an end to this phenomenon that endangers the lives of people and animals alike,” he added.