Young Saudi prince dies of thrist (sic) in desert (That Makes Three)

Reuters | 7/29/02

[kattracks]

RIYADH, July 29 (Reuters) - A young Saudi prince died of thirst in the desert on Monday, the official media reported.

Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabeer, 25, was travelling through the kingdom's Rimah area, where temperatures in some areas can rise above 45 degrees celsius (113 F) in the summer.

No other details were given. ((Gulf newsroom, +971 4 391 8301, fax +971 4 391 8335, dubai.newsroom@reuters.com))

© Reuters Limited.

[VaBthang4]

He's young....I would think that most likely puts him in the too dumb to realize radical islam is a joke category.

Probably one of Bin Laden's boys.

Something really is going down in Saudi Arabia.

Eitherway...no rich Prince dies of thirst in the desert.....just doesnt happen.

[crypt2k]

These guys have bodyguards, satellite phones and helicopters. This story reeks.

[Thumper1960]

"Died of thirst"???

To paraphrase Marie Antionette--"Let them drink p*$$."

Or, was the camel dehydrated, too?

[Woodkirk]

I wonder if they dusted the area for finger prince or
checked around the body for foot prince --

[TheLooseThread]

Only 1,372,278 princes left....

[Thinkin' Gal]

Prince Fahd bin Turki

Fowl play, or Darwin award?

[aristeides]

See the "bin Turki" in his name. It was also in the name of the prince who died in the car crash. I wonder if they were both related to the Prince Turki that was fired from the job of head of Saudi intelligence in August 2001.

[EternalVigilance]

Given a choice between a country with plenty of oil, and one with plenty of water, I'll take the well-watered one any day. There are lots of ways to live without oil; but no water means death.

God bless America!

Having said that, the story sounds mighty fishy...there is much going on in that part of the world that we're not hearing about.

EV

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Not all of them. He could be your every-day college grad in a regualr car making his way across the desert and died.

[solzhenitsyn]

The Saudi royal family has approximately 6,000 officially recognized members. Not certain, but I believe all 6,000 of them are eligible for diplomatic immunity when traveling in the United States. Read something to that effect in the Jounal about a decade ago.

The family has grown very rapidly due to certain male members having very many children by many wives. Ibn Saud, for instance, had 44 sons by 17 wives.

[Neophyte]

Is someone picking off the little princes?

It certainly looks like that. The old fart the King had fathered too many of them, and now that he is ailing, fight for the throne began...

[Lessismore]

According to Mrs Lessismore, War Emblem will be back to racing in the Haskell at Monmouth Park.

Really good race horses are a lot rarer than Saudi Princes.

[cinFLA]

>i>113 degrees, 25 years old, and he died? What a bunch of p*ssies they're breeding. Hell, I'm 41, and I carry a golf bag up and down the hills for 4 hours in tempuratures that high, all summer long here in Woodland Hills CA.

Carefull with the boasting! :)

Woodland Hills CA: Jun Jul Aug

Avg. High 87°F 95°F 95°F

Record High 115°F 116°F 115°F

1990 1985 1985

[mystery-ak]

Well, it looks like someone has a lot of work to do..

My theory...he was probably staked out or dropped off in the middle of the desert.

[Senator Pardek]

Nice one, and you were just wingin' it! I gobbled it up, but I'm sure some Saudis would have a bone to pick with you over your comment. Some folks can be such puritans.

P.S. - that would have really ruffled Passin Pilgrim's feathers!

[solzhenitsyn]

"I'd like to see a family tree and see where all these Princes stand in the line of power."

Here's a family tree of sorts, but there's no clear line of succession. The crown (or whatever) isn't passed down from father to son. There's been a recent trend of the new kings being brothers (/half brothers) of their predecessors. There's supposed to be a secretive process whereby senior members of the royal family select a new king when the old one dies, based on things like whose mother had the highest standing with the father (some half-brothers are more equal than others).

[Henchster]

We have a solid week every year where it's over 110 every day, and we have at least a dozen other days where it's 110 here. The Woodland Hills reading is taken either at Van Nuys airport, where it's nowhere near as hot, or at Pierce College in their botanical garden, which is cooler as well.

Don't be fooled by those "meteor-logical" goofballs, just come out here for a month in the summer, and you'll go home saying "Desert!"

[nonliberal]

Dumbass.

[snippy_about_it]

This is from a November 2001 newspaper article about the princes not paying their phone bills, etc.

Many Saudis grumble that the royal tribe, with an estimated 7000 princes, has grown too large for the country to sustain the opulent family welfare system begun decades ago by the founder, King Abdel Aziz al-Saud. Prince Abdullah seemed to agree. He put royal family members on notice that they should pay their electricity and phone bills as well as buy their once-gratis tickets on Saudia, the state-run airline. The telephone company reported a huge leap in paid phone bills starting in 2000.

Royal watchers believe that prince Abdullah has retreated somewhat, after an outcry from princes. At 78, the crown prince probably does not have long to institute change after King Fahd dies. Having no full brothers, he needs the support of as many important princes as possible. He may have to tolerate some of their excesses for the time being.

There are over 20,000 Royal family members which include the estimated 7,000 princes.

[Thinkin' Gal]

I see you are on a roll... bin stuffing all of those clever puns into your... post!

This prince was one dehydrated turki. Has anybody questioned Clark W. Griswold?