A driver and his family escaped almost without a scratch after their car brakes failed while he was driving at more than 100 kph on a motorway in the Gulf kingdom, a Saudi newspaper reported on Monday.

The man was driving towards the western Saudi town of Medina when the brakes suddenly failed and the car slowly started to gain a velocity up to 180 kph, Al Riyadh Arab language daily said.

“He suddenly swerved off the road into the desert…the car kept going for nearly five km before it was stopped by sand and small trees,” it said, adding that only the driver suffered from bruises.