By Fatima Al-Dubais
DAMMAM — The Saudi Embassy in Germany reiterated that it does not believe that there is any criminal intention behind the disappearance of the Saudi scholarship student in Germany.
The student went missing near the Neckar River in the town of Neckargemund in the state of Baden Wurttemberg on Saturday. He was believed to be camping with his friends.
The embassy, in a statement on Tuesday, said Saudi Ambassador Awwad Bin Saleh Al-Awwad talked to the student's family in Qatif and briefed them about the latest developments in the case.
The statement quoted a German homicide police source as saying that there were no indications of any foul play and the police still considers the Saudi student missing until he is found.
The embassy said it received information from the German police early Sunday morning and immediately moved to the scene to follow up on the search operations.
The local police authorities said they were informed about the disappearance of the Saudi student after midnight Saturday and immediately relayed the information to the Saudi Embassy.
According to the embassy, the missing student is Murtada Al-Mishaal, who is 25 years old and hails from Qatif region in the east.
He arrived in Germany in 2010 to study dentistry but later changed his studies to organic chemistry.
His brother, Ahmed Al-Mishaal said Murtada went on a camping picnic with a number of his German friends during a bad misty weather and disappeared after he started swimming.
"His friends too went into the river in a bid to rescue him but could not because of the mist and the bad weather," he told Saudi Gazette.
He said his brother left his mobile phone in the room to be charged before he went out to swim.
"The last time Murtada talked to his mother was two days before the incident," he added.
Ahmed said his brother was an active member in the society. "He is studying and working at the same time. He played football as a goalkeeper in one of the soccer teams in Germany," he said.
Murtada's Saudi colleagues, who were saddened by his disappearance, described him as a good ambassador of his country. They said he was religious with good manners and amiable character.
