A petrol station located on a crowded street in a densely populated area of Jeddah has ignored basic safety standards by constructing a prayer area on the reserve petrol tank. Walls have been built around the area for prayer while manholes leading to the large fuel tank are beneath the carpet. Staff of the gas station seem oblivious to the danger and indifferent to the fact that they are required to inhale petrol fumes five times a day. The risk of a disaster taking place becomes even greater when one realizes that an electric vacuum used to clean cars is located at a distance of only one meter from the reserve gas tank-cum-prayer area. “It is definitely a violation of the safety regulations governing petrol stations,” said Brigadier Mohammad Al-Ghamdi, Director General of Civil Defense in Makkah Province. “I'm certain that the owners of such stations intend to hide these practices from Civil Defense officers during inspection tours,” he added. He also said that the station, where employees risk their lives every time they offer their prayers, is the very station that was closed down once before for another violation and that the Civil Defense will now take serious action against the owner. Brigadier Al-Ghamdi explained that the Civil Defense cannot monitor each and every petrol station in the region without the help of the citizens.