Ex-IISD chairman, wife, son die in tragic road accident

Dammam - 24 Dec 2011 (AN): Former Chairman of International Indian School-Dammam Muhammad Asghar Khan, 58, his wife Rukhsana Begum, 44, and their son Mohammed Ehtisam,19, died in a road accident on Thursday evening.

The family was on its way to Makkah to perform Umrah when their vehicle, a Toyota Fortuner, skidded off the highway near Dulum, about 100 km from Taif. The three died on the spot.

The survivors were Khan's young daughter Ayesha, and another family member Mohammed Zulfikar Khan, 45.

Both have sustained serious injuries and are currently warded at the King Abdulaziz Specialist Hospital in Taif.

Ehtisam, an engineering student in the National Institute of Technology in Rourkela, Orissa, India, had come on a visit during his college vacation.

As an elected member of IISD's Managing Committee, Khan, from Jharkhand, was a popular and respectable figure among Indians.

He had earned the good will of school's parent community during his tenure as the school chairman. He worked as assistant manager for quality assurance at Al-Ittefaq Steel Products Co.

"It is very tragic," said IISD Principal E.K. Mohammed Shaffe.

"The school will remain closed on Saturday as a mark of respect for Khan and his family."

Current IISD Chairman John Thomas said the managing committee will miss him. "Everyone is in shock," he said.

"A condolence meeting will be held at the school's Boys Section at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday," he said. "All staff members (teaching and non-teaching), members of managing committee and Khan's friends will pay respects to the departed souls," he said.

The bodies are lying in a morgue at a government hospital in a small township, Boiya, where the accident took place.

S. D. Moorthy, consul at the Indian Consulate in Jeddah, who visited the two survivors told Arab News on Friday that the tragedy had left the two survivors into a trauma.

"The daughter Ayesha, who is studying in 12th grade at the International Indian School in Dammam, was seeking news of her parents," Moorthy said, indicating that he did not reveal the truth fearing that the girl's health condition would worsen.

As a mark of respect for the departed soul, the IISD Dammam declared a holiday on Saturday.