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Saudi Heritage Commission Reveals Antiquities in the Red Sea

Press conference to announce the survey of the area between Umluj and Ras Sheikh Humaid (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Press conference to announce the survey of the area between Umluj and Ras Sheikh Humaid (Asharq Al-Awsat)
    Thuwal - Asma al-Ghabri
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Saudi Heritage Commission Reveals Antiquities in the Red Sea

Press conference to announce the survey of the area between Umluj and Ras Sheikh Humaid (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Press conference to announce the survey of the area between Umluj and Ras Sheikh Humaid (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Heritage Commission announced it would begin surveying the area between Umluj and Ras Sheikh Humaid in the Red Sea to uncover submerged antiquities.

During a press conference hosted by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the Commission explained that the project, which is scheduled till Sept 5, will search for the wreck of the sunken ship and monitor more than 25 designated sites.

The project comes in cooperation with King Abdulaziz University and the participation of an Italian team from the University of Naples.

The project includes a marine sonar survey of the sites containing submerged archaeologies to create nautical maps and high-resolution images of all areas.

The data will be collected and analyzed using sonar and sound waves.

The entire site will be photographed using high-quality 3D photogrammetry and video technology, making an accurate map of the wrecks and determining the locations of fixed reference points using the GPS.

For his part, the CEO of the Heritage Commission, Jasir al-Herbish, said that the Commission has made significant achievements and uncovered underwater cultural heritage.

It established a new marine center to preserve underwater cultural heritage in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

It will encourage scientific cooperation with local and international universities to uncover underwater heritage sites and build capacities in the field.

The Commission participates in several local and international programs to preserve the underwater heritage.

Herbish stressed that the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf harbor many secrets about the Kingdom's cultural heritage, hoping the center will contribute to discovering new items.

For her part, Senior Associate to the President and VP of Strategic National Advancement at KAUST, Najah Ashry, stated that KAUST welcomes everything that serves scientific research in Saudi Arabia.

The discovery of the underwater heritage is an excellent example of what can be achieved through cooperation with Saudi universities and public sectors in the Kingdom.

The project is linked to the Minister of Culture, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan's announcement during the G20 summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in November 2020 and includes establishing a center for underwater heritage.

The project aims to document the Kingdom's pivotal location and its prominent role as a civilizational center for thousands of years and consolidate the efforts of the Heritage Commission to document, preserve, and disseminate the national heritage.

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Separated by LA Wildfires, a Happy Reunion for Some Pets, Owners

Serena Null is reunited with her cat Domino, who was burned in the Eaton Fire, at Pasadena Humane, an animal shelter in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
Serena Null is reunited with her cat Domino, who was burned in the Eaton Fire, at Pasadena Humane, an animal shelter in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Separated by LA Wildfires, a Happy Reunion for Some Pets, Owners

Serena Null is reunited with her cat Domino, who was burned in the Eaton Fire, at Pasadena Humane, an animal shelter in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
Serena Null is reunited with her cat Domino, who was burned in the Eaton Fire, at Pasadena Humane, an animal shelter in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. (AFP)

When Serena Null saw the flames roaring toward her family home in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, she ran to find her pet Domino, but the cat eluded her grasp.

"We could see the fire from the front door, and so we just didn't have enough time, and we had to leave him," the 27-year-old Null said.

The ferocious blaze reduced her mother-in-law's house to ashes, and a search of the blackened rubble the following day proved fruitless. Null feared she would never see her green-eyed friend again.

But on Friday, to her amazement, she and Domino were reunited.

"I just was so relieved and just so happy that he was here," a tearful Null told AFP outside the NGO Pasadena Humane, where Domino -- suffering singed paws, a burnt nose and a high level of stress -- had been taken after being rescued.

Domino is one of several hundred pets brought to the center as the Eaton fire roared through Altadena, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes in such a rush that many left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Pasadena Humane was accustomed to dealing with crises, but the sudden explosion in demand was without precedent.

"We've never had to take 350 at once in one day before," said the center's Kevin McManus. "It's been really overwhelming."

- Search and rescue -

Many animals were delivered by their owners, who had lost their homes and had to find temporary housing for pets while they themselves stayed in hotels or shelters.

But others were brought by rescue workers and volunteers. The center says on its website that when it receives a report of a pet left behind, it sends "search and rescue teams as quickly as possible in areas that are safe to enter."

The center opened up as much space as it could to accommodate the influx, even placing some pets in offices.

And it was not just dogs and cats, McManus said. There were species rarely seen in an animal shelter -- like a pony, which spent a night in the center.

More than 10 days after the fires began raging through Los Angeles, the center still houses some 400 animals, including rabbits, turtles, lizards and birds, including a huge green, red and blue macaw.

Many of the pets' owners, still without permanent housing, come to the center to visit their animal friends -- people like Winston Ekpo, who came to see his three German shepherds, Salt, Pepper and Sugar.

As firefighters in the area make progress, many animal owners are able to come and recover their pets, tears of sadness turning to tears of joy.

- Back home -

The center's website posts photos of recovered animals, including information on the time and place where they were rescued.

McManus said some 250 pets have so far been returned to their owners.

One of them, curiously, was Bombon, who had actually been lost long before the fires.

The Chihuahua mix went missing from its Altadena home in November, said 23-year-old Erick Rico.

He had begun to resign himself to never seeing Bombon again.

Then one day a friend told him he had seen a picture on the Pasadena Humane website that caught his attention.

When Rico saw it, he was so excited he couldn't sleep that night -- "it looked exactly like him," he said -- and he arrived at the center early the following morning.

When he saw his owners, Bombon "started crying a lot, wagging his tail and everything. He was very, very happy."

After the painful days of uncertainty, Rico too finally felt relief. "Now I'm just happy that he's back home."