RIYADH – Saudi Arabia has detained at least 30 people, including active and retired officials, for questioning over floods that killed more than 120 people in the port city of Jeddah last month, newspapers reported yesterday.
People were swept away after heavy rain in the Red Sea port destroyed bridges and roads and caused flash floods that swept through illegal housing developments, some of them built on dry river beds. The floods are known to have killed 123 people.
King Abdullah told a Kuwaiti newspaper he would show no leniency “towards those who were negligent” in carrying out their duties.
– (Reuters)
