244 Indians dead between January 1 and August 31 in Saudi Arabia

Dubai, Sep 15 (UNI) At least 244 Indians in Saudi Arabia died due to unnatural causes between January 1 and August 31 this year, according to data released by the community welfare wing of the Indian Embassy in Riyadh.

This was in addition to 303 deaths resulting from natural causes, bringing the total number of deaths in the Indian community to 547, according to K Muraleedharan, second secretary at the embassy.

The leading causes of unnatural death are car accidents and suicides while heart attacks are the main cause of natural deaths, Arab News reported.

Suicides were committed mainly due to non-payment of salaries, harassment by employers, or family problems at home.

Unnatural causes of death were due to traffic accidents that killed 135, followed by suicide (32 cases), industrial accidents (26), murder (8) and undisclosed unnatural causes (43).

In the corresponding period last year, 812 Indians died in Saudi Arabia, of these 484 were due to natural causes. Among unnatural deaths, traffic accidents resulted in 212 casualties, while suicide, industrial accidents and others were responsible for 50, 31 and 23 casualties, respectively.

There are 3.5 million Indian expatriates in the Gulf, 1.5 million of them in Saudi Arabia.

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