MAKKAH: Students in Saudi Arabia watched on in horror as their teacher died while giving an online class.

The Egyptian computer science teacher, Mohammed Hassan, was giving the class on Thursday morning, when students studying from their homes realized he was experiencing difficulties and raised the alarm.

His colleagues from Al-Nokhba Al-Elmeya School in Dammam, raced to his home where they found his body.

He was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. His family have requested that he be buried in Egypt.

The computer science teacher moved from Egypt to Saudi Arabia five years ago.

The school’s principal, Adel Al-Suleiman, said the incident has left everyone in shock.

“We share his family’s grief, and we will fondly remember the man who devoted himself to education,” Al-Suleiman said.

“He was a teacher who worked hard, diligently, and devotedly in order to advance the educational process.”

“He was gentle and humble and left a legacy as if one knew him for a long time.”

Now Hassan’s grieving students have started two endowments in his honor, at the Charitable Society for the Memorization of the Holy Qu’ran and the Ehssan Association.

Hassan’s colleague, Mohammed Al-Sifyan, described him as a “good man” who had “high morals and a warm smile.”

“His relationship with everyone was based on love, and we knew him as a teacher who loved his job, colleagues, and students and was devoted to his work.”

Ibrahim Al-Ghasham, director of private education at the General Department of Education in the Eastern Province, said Hassan died delivering knowledge, “which is a good end, especially having spent his life in the service of knowledge.”