Jeddah: A Telangana NRI has died of thirst under the heart of blazing sun after losing his way in Saudi Arabia’s vast southern desert, known as Empty quarter or Ruba Al Khali in eastern province.
The deceased was identified as 27-year old Mohammed Shahzad Khan, who hails from Karimnagar.
The tragic incident occurred when the NRI lost the GPS signal, depleted the mobile battery and fuel in the vehicle, and was stuck in a remote desert for nearly four days. He along with his colleague’s dead bodies were found on a prayer rug in sand tunes next to their car on Thursday.
The heart wrenching scene of bodies lying on a prayer rug can indicate the exhausted duo lost hope for survival and preparing to die.
Shahzad has been working in Saudi Arabia for the last three years in a telecommunication maintenance company, according to sources. He was on the job along with his colleague who is a Sudanese national on the day the duo missed the way.
Covering 650 kilometres, Ruba Al-Khali is one of the most desolate and dangerous deserts in the world. It covers mostly the eastern part of Saudi Arabia near Hofuf along with Riyadh, Najran provinces in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen.
The breakdown of cars, loss of mobile signals, and navigation difficulties amidst scorching sun vast deserts is leading to dehydration and subsequent to death occurs in deserts. In the past, skulls of men including Indians were found, once lost the navigation death is certain in the desert.
