Rain Wreaks Havoc Across the Country, 9 dead

Lieutenant-Colonel Rashid Al Mazrooei, duty officer at the Central Operations Room in Abu Dhabi Police, said 909 accidents were reported, including 50 from cars that skidded or flipped over.

Residents wait to cross the road on a flooded street.—KT photo by Juidin Bernarrd

Three people were killed and eight seriously injured in separate accidents in Abu Dhabi over the last two days.

A police statement did not specify how the accidents happened.

In four accidents in the capital, pedestrians were run over by vehicles.

A cyclist weathers the showers in Abu Dhabi. —KT photo by Iftikhar Shaheedi

In a major accident, two people were killed and 17 injured when a bus carrying 60 workers crashed into the rear of a truck around 11.30am on Emirates Road in Dubai. The injured were shifted to Rashid Hospital.

Salah Bu Farousha, head of the Dubai Traffic Prosecution, said the bus driver was an Asian.

A mother carries her child home across a flooded road. —KTphotos by Iftikhar Shaheedi and M. Sajjad

The accident happened on a bridge near a vegetable market in the direction of Sharjah, where the heavy truck was parked in a lane after being involved in a minor accident with another truck on Emirates Road.

Preliminary investigations showed the accident was caused by the bus driver who did not slow down in wet weather conditions.

Traffic Prosecutor Jamal Al Shurfa supervised the rescue operations and investigated the accident.

The drivers of the bus and the heavy truck were referred to the Traffic Prosecution for investigation.

‘Not only will the bus driver be charged but also the heavy truck driver who had parked wrongly in the middle of the road,’ Al Shurfa said.

Two other people died in accidents in Sharjah, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Ahmed bin Darwish, Director of Sharjah Patrols Department Anjad.

‘On Sunday morning, a Pakistani motorist died in an accident that occurred on Maleeha road in Industrial Area No. 18,’ Bin Darwish told Khaleej Times. ‘This driver was driving on an inner road and wrongly overtook another car leading to a strong collision of the two cars, which resulted in his death.’

‘The second fatal accident occurred around 2am on Sunday when an Arab national riding his bicycle on Al Wahda Road was hit by a car.

‘The young man died on the spot and the motorist who hit him is currently under detention.’

In Fujairah, a driver and co-passenger died when their car crashed into a lamp post on the Fujairah-Massafi Highway on Sunday. Both were Indian.

‘The car ploughed into the post after the driver lost control over the steering (wheel),’ said Major Saleh Mohammed Abdullah from Fujairah Traffic Department, quoting the preliminary investigation report.

In Dubai, two persons were suffered minor injuries when two minibuses collided around 6am.

In Sharjah about 90 minor road accidents occurred.

In Ras Al Khaimah, a 25-year-old Emirati was seriously injured when his car skidded off the road in the Sha’abiyat Rashid on Sunday morning, said a senior officer at the RAK Traffic Police.

news@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE