Al-Jazirah daily

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are killed or maimed in road accidents all over the Kingdom. Countless numbers of people have lost their loved ones and their lives have forever changed. Road accidents are treated like natural disasters, as the Traffic Directorate has thus far been unable to do anything to stop or significantly reduce the number of accidents. The Kingdom has such a high road fatality rate that the number of victims exceeds that of war victims in other countries.

I usually do not write articles focusing on one person, instead choosing to write about common issues that affect society as a whole. In this article, however, I write about a woman who died in an accident in Mahayel Asir. Her name is Zahiya and she was a schoolteacher who was with her son when she was involved in a car accident. Her son was rushed to the hospital while traffic police had the car taken to an impound lot, unaware that Zahiya was still inside the wreckage. Her lifeless body was discovered five hours later.

I felt extremely sad for what happened to this woman. As a citizen and a medical doctor, I demand that all legal and administrative procedures be taken against anyone involved in this incident to ensure that it will never happen again.

According to local news reports, the accident occurred in broad daylight but emergency responders failed to notice the woman’s body in the wreckage of the car. They were only made aware of her presence when her son woke up in the hospital and asked about his mother. Both Traffic Directorate and Civil Defense officers were present at the scene of the accident but failed to check if there was anyone underneath the wreckage.

The pressing question in this case is: When exactly did Zahiya die? Perhaps she was still alive when she was stuck inside the wreckage, lying there unconscious. If the officers had done their jobs properly, they would have seen Zahiya inside, potentially saving her life. In any case, her death and the manner in which her body was discovered must have been a great shock to her family.

Will the authorities form a fact-finding committee to uncover the truth or will Zahiya’s death be in vain? It is said that if you want to cause confusion about a certain issue, then form a committee with a lot of members.