Indian youngster cheated by Gulf agents dies in desert near Riyadh
The native of Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, apparently walked some hundreds of kilometres in sand dunes without knowing the way out.
Jeddah: An Indian youngster, who was allegedly duped by recruitment agents back home in India, died of starvation recently after getting lost in the desert.
Alam Juned, 22, who dreamed to have a bright future for his family and supportive to parents, had ended up as a camel herder in Wadi Dawasir area, 600km from Riyadh, instead of a salesman’s job in a supermarket in Riyadh.
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The native of Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, apparently walked some hundreds of kilometres in sand dunes without knowing the way out. His decomposed body was found about 15 days after his death when someone saw the body and notified the police in September.
A small bag with two pairs of clothes and a passport copy was found near the body that established his identity. Juned’s body was partially eaten, allegedly by desert ants. The Indian Embassy in Riyadh has sent the body back home recently, four months after his death.
Wadi al-Dawasir lies on the edge of Rub’ al Khali, also known as the Empty Quarter because its bone-dry surface discourages anyone from living there, except a few Bedouin who use it seasonally. The navigation in the desert is extremely difficult. The enormous expanse of sand that extends as far as and beyond what the eye can see makes one lose the sense of distance and size.
The light pierces the eyes preventing them from focusing on one spot for more than a few seconds and a sense of confusion creeps into the mind, already foggy by the heat where temperature rises above 50 Celsius.
It is like a death trap for people, especially Indians who are not familiar with sand terrains. Some Indians who were duped by recruitment agencies back home landed in these deserts as camel herders.
An Indian social worker Sidhikh Tuvvur has helped 51 Indians camel herders, who allegedly landed in fraudulent methods in Rub Al Khali desert, to return home with the help of Saudi authorities.
