JEDDAH: The authorities in Jeddah are looking into the escape of three Saudi girls from the Hospitality House of the Jeddah Social Affairs Directorate a few days ago.
They are trying to find out where the the girls went and who helped them escape. Sources in the Ministry of Social Affairs were quoted as telling a local publication that the initial investigation did not reveal the whereabouts of the girls.
This incident is the second of its kind where the reasons and motives of the girls who ran away from the shelter is not known.
The sources said the authorities will refer the girls after arresting them to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution in the province, noting that the girls lived in the Hospitality House after serving their prison terms since their families refused to take them back. The house looks after and provides for all such people.
In the first incident, the girls broke the emergency door of the house and went away although their stay at the house is optional after their families refused to take them back. The girls in such situations stay in the house until they reach an understanding with their families. The Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution interrogated two suspects linked to the incident.
The Hospitality House in Jeddah receives and gives shelter to juveniles in danger of delinquency, who have been referred to it by competent bodies. They are offered services and behavioral modification according to educational and correctional programs with the coordination of departments and entities concerned with juvenile issues.
3 Saudi girls escape from shelter
3 Saudi girls escape from shelter
Saudi Arabia launches initiative to reroute Gulf cargo to Red Sea ports
- The initiative comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the widening conflict in the region
- Since the US and Israel struck Iran last month, Tehran has moved to restrict passage through the waterway
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative to redirect shipping from ports in the Arabian Gulf to its Red Sea ports amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran war.
Transport Minister Saleh Al-Jasser, who also chairs the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani), launched the Logistics Corridors Initiative alongside Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority Governor Suhail Abanmi, Mawani President Suliman Al-Mazroua, and other officials, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The initiative will establish dedicated operational corridors to receive containers and cargo redirected from ports in the Kingdom's Eastern Region and other Gulf Cooperation Council states to Jeddah Islamic Port and other Red Sea coast ports.
Al-Jasser said the Kingdom was committed to ensuring supply-chain stability and the smooth flow of goods through global trade routes. Jeddah Islamic Port and other west coast ports, he added, were already playing a key role in accommodating shipments redirected from the east, while also linking Gulf cargo to regional and international markets.
The initiative comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the widening conflict in the region. Iran has long threatened to close the strait — the world's most critical oil and gas chokepoint, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass — in the event of a war.
Since the US and Israel struck Iran last month, Tehran has moved to restrict passage through the waterway, sending freight rates soaring and forcing shipping companies to seek alternative routes.
Saudi Arabia's Red Sea ports offer a viable bypass, connecting Gulf cargo to global markets without passing through the strait.
