An off-road team called Riders, who are normally spotted driving their group of 30-40 Jeeps to the outskirts of the city towards the desert or going up the Hada road towards Taif, were spotted doing something completely different during the recent Jeddah rains.

Their lifted Jeeps, all modified and equipped to pull out vehicles in stranded situations, were deployed around the city in flood-prone areas. Operating under the Barq Rescue team (Thunder Rescue), which is a voluntary rescue team alongside Civil Defense and is run by Jeep enthusiasts. The organization is officially registered with Saudi Arabian Motor Federation (SAMF) and the Saudi Civil Defense Force (fire emergency services), they pulled out stranded cars and people from places where the water rose above knee level.

They also posted on social media to reach out to anyone needing assistance and were stranded in the waters. They even went on transporting people from one place to another as taxis and taxi-hailing services were more or less non-existent. When we reached out to them about their voluntary efforts they mentioned, “we off-roaders, adventurers feel we do have a social responsibility and a way to create awareness about us is not only by having fun in the sand dunes, but also act professionally when it comes to incidents like these.”

Aamir Farouk, 28 one of the team leaders for the Riders group, said, “Why do what everyone else is doing when you can make your mark by doing something completely different? Keep your focus on what YOU want to do – Not what anyone else wants or is doing. You lose time watching others succeed. There are so many ways to win.” #OneDayOrDayOne”  The Riders team consists of 4 team leaders and 100+ members.

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Instagram: Riders.KSA
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