Geologists, Aramco join race against time to rescue girl

December 27, 2013

Tabuk-civil

Jeddah, Dec 27: Experts from Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) have joined the bid to free six-year-old Lama from a well in Haql near Tabuk.

Lama had fallen into a 100-meter-deep well seven days ago while picnicking in the area.

Adverse weather conditions have hampered the weeklong operation to rescue Lama. “Falling loose soil and rains have complicated the operation,” a Civil Defense official told Arab News.

Zuhair Nawab, president of the SGS, said he would send an expert team immediately to the site. “They will advise the Civil Defense and other government agencies on how to reach the girl without any problems,” Nawab said.

Saudi Aramco sent experts and equipment to the Civil Defense on Thursday while the Kingdom's chief geologist Ahmed Salem Basamad, his deputy, hydro expert Ehab Abdul Aziz Al-Ashi, and high-ranking Civil Defense officials have gone to the site to supervise the operation.

Officials stopped the search operation on Wednesday after experts warned that mudslides near the well could endanger the lives of scores of Civil Defense officers involved in one of the largest rescue operations of its kind in the Kingdom, said Badar Al-Jahani, a Saudi journalist, who spoke to Arab News over the phone from the site.

Rescuers have drilled a borehole parallel to the well to reach the child, said Maj. Gen. Mastour Al-Harithy, director of the Civil Defense in Tabuk, who has been camping at the site for the last seven days.

The Ministry of Health has set up a medical facility to treat rescue workers who have been working continuously at the site for a week. The medical team also provided treatment for the girl’s father who has been at the spot for the last seven days.

Eyewitnesses told Arab News over the phone that hundreds of concerned and curious people are attempting to reach the area but security officers have prevented them from doing so.

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News Network
April 21,2020

Dubai, Apr 21: Saudi Arabia reported 1122 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 10,484, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday (April 20).

Ministry of health announced 27% of the cases are for Saudis, while 73% for non-Saudis, and ages ranged from one month old baby to 96 years old.

Meanwhile, the ministry reported 92 recoveries today, with total recoveries in the kingdom at 1,490. There are 96 cases in intensive care.

The ministry also confirmed 6 deaths on Monday, bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 103.

The Saudi health minister on Monday announced that 47 billion riyals were approved by the goverment to support the health ministry in this pandemic.

Also the minister in a press confrence referred to the large numbers of cases revealed in past days saying, "During the past three days, everyone noticed an increase in the number of people infected with the coronavirus, due to the active testing of areas."

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Agencies
July 20,2020

Riyadh, Jul 20: Saudi Arabia's King Salman has been admitted to a hospital in the capital, Riyadh, for medical tests due to inflammation of the gallbladder, the kingdom's Royal Court said Monday in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The statement said the 84-year-old monarch is being tested at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital. The brief statement did not provide further details.

King Salman has been in power since January 2015. He is considered the last Saudi monarch of his generation of brothers who have held power since the death of their father and founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz.

King Salman has empowered his 34-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as his successor. The crown prince's assertive and bold style of leadership, as well as his consolidation of power and sidelining of potential rivals, has been controversial.

With the support of his father, Prince Mohammed has transformed the kingdom in recent years, opening it up to tourists and eroding decades of ultraconservative restrictions on entertainment and women's rights as he tries to diversify the Saudi economy away from reliance on oil exports.

The prince has also detained dozens of activists and critics, overseen a devastating war in Yemen, and rounded up top members of the royal family in his quest for power.

The Saudi king has not been seen in public in recent months due to social distancing guidelines and concerns over the spread of the coronavirus inside the kingdom, which has one of the largest outbreaks in the Middle East.

He has been shown, however, in state-run media images attending virtual meetings with his Cabinet and held calls with world leaders.

King Salman, who oversees Islam's holiest sites in Makkah and Medinah, was a crown prince under King Abdullah and served as defense minister. For more than 50 years prior to that, he was governor of Riyadh, overseeing its evolution from a barren city to a teeming capital.

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News Network
June 17,2020

Abu Dhabi, Jun 17: The Ministry of Education (MoE) has allowed students still enrolled in universities overseas to obtain exceptions to attendance policies at their respective academic institutions in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the ministry said that the move stems from its keenness to ensure the continuity of education for those students and to maintain effective channels of communication with them.

Students' applications for exceptions to academic attendance in universities due to Covid-19 should be submitted following the end of the academic year, and not after the academic semester, via the following email: [email protected].

In their email, students have to explain the reasons for the required exceptions and should include an official message from the university concerned.

Scholarship approval issued by the Ministry of Education for studying abroad should also be attached.

The student's score reports for the academic years spent in the host countries and the duration of each academic year should also be attached, in addition to an entry and exit report of the student from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship.

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