Lankan dies in Saudi Arabia crash

MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN IN RIYADH

A Sri Lankan together with three other expatriates working in Saudi Arabia died on the spot in an accident on the Riyadh-Dammam highway on Monday.

Lucent Christoper de Silva ,49, was working for the Holiday Inn Hotel in Al-Khobar in the Eastern Province as its food and beverage manager for the past 18 months. He was married to Jean, a Filipina, who is settled in the United States.

The others who died in the accident were the hotel's chief house-keeper Shariful Islam from Bangladesh, its executive chef Ahmed Ibrahim Al Mahtadi, a Jordanian and sous chef Osam Kamil Sukoor, also a Jordanian.

The Sri Lankan embassy in Riyadh confirmed de Silva's death yesterday and had informed the External Affairs Ministry in Colombo to convey the news to the next- of-kin in Mount Lavinia.

According to an embassy official, the mission is yet to receive the police report to make arrangements for the repatriation of the body.

The hotel's training and development manager Vinod C Menon said the the four hotel workers had gone on an assignment in Riyadh and were returning to Dammam the same day.