Riyadh— Nearly 300 Indian technicians and labourers employed by Sendan International Company Ltd. in Jubail say they have gone eight months without salaries, surviving on scant food, brackish water and borrowed medicines at the firm’s Camp-17 on King Faisal West Road.
Their plight surfaced after journalist Ashraf Hussain posted an appeal video on X, tagging External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar and urging swift rescue. Workers allege the company bars them from leaving and refuses airfare home, telling them to “wait, we’ll send you through the government,” even as local officials cite a “system not working.”
Independent footage: stranded employees seeking help (X video link preserved in original post)
Some labourers—heart patients, diabetics—say they cannot buy medicine. One missed his daughter’s wedding after the firm allegedly blocked his exit.
The Indian Embassy in Riyadh says it is “in regular touch” with employees and has sought Saudi authorities’ help. Nepalese and Bangladeshi staff are reportedly caught in the same limbo.
In a separate case, nine Indian men in Dammam claim their employer confiscated passports and halted work four months ago, leaving them destitute.
Founded in 1994, Yanbu-based Sendan provides construction services to the oil, gas and power sectors; workers say they once trusted its reputation but now feel “abandoned in the desert.”
Families back home are pleading for the Indian government to secure emergency travel documents and unpaid dues before desperation turns deadly.
