6 Saudi sisters, cousins drown trying to save girl

Pic credit: Sabq

Tragedy jolted a Saudi family on a weekend picnic on Saturday when six sisters and cousins drowned in a pond trying to save a little girl from the family.

The three Saudi families were on a picnic in a valley just outside the capital Riyadh when a 10-year-old girl went to swim in the pond filled with rainwater following nearly two weeks of rain fall on the desert oil-rich Gulf Kingdom.

The girl suddenly began screaming as it was apparently caught by the mud at the bottom of the pond, prompting an elder cousin to jump into the water for her rescue.

When both girls did not emerge out of the water, another one jumped after them. Three other girls then rushed for their help and all of them were swallowed by the pond.

Sabq newspaper quoted police as saying the victims are aged between 10 and 18 years and their bodies were plucked out by police divers. It said two of them are sisters and the four others are their cousins from two different fathers.

“When the father of the two sisters saw their bodies, he collapsed and fainted. He was rushed to hospital in a serious condition,” it said.