Saudi Gazette report

JUBAIL — A large number of mourners attended the burial of a toddler who died after falling inside an open sewer in a residential neighborhood of Jubail.

The site was under the responsibility of a contracting company that was doing maintenance work for the Saline Water Conversion Corporation.

A large number of people performed the funeral prayer for two-year-old Zakariya Muahmmad Yahya at Al-Warthan Mosque. They included the director of Al-Jubail water desalination stations and other officials, in addition to the family members of the victim.

The boy’s father, Muahmmad Yahya, said he accepted Allah’s will. The investigation into the accident is ongoing, he said, adding that the medical report revealed that his son died as a result of suffocation after he fell inside the open sewer. The authorities had asked the father whether he wanted an autopsy to be carried out on the body, but he turned down the request saying his son suffocated according to the medical report.

Zakariya was playing in front of the house with his friends in the residential complex for the employees of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation. The boy’s father told Okaz/Saudi Gazette earlier that negligence was clear and there was no follow-up on open sewer holes, which were posing a danger to the residents.

Al-Youm newspaper reported that the governor of Saline Water Conversion Corporation was closely following up the investigation.

A number of committees involving many departments were formed to investigate the accident. The hole where the child fell in was three meters deep and was located in an open area covered with small plants and grass and it was not visible easily.