Extreme heat has blasted Asia from India to the Philippines in recent weeks, triggering heatstroke deaths, school closures and desperate prayers for cooling rain
asia2 hours ago
Bishruddin Sharqi is still in 'wild wonder', in his own words. And there are enough reasons for him to be.
Sharqi experienced the dedication and commitment of the Sharjah Police officials twice in a day. While one officer rescued him after he got stranded in the desert with his family, within hours, another police team changed the tyre of his vehicle to save them from a possible crash.
Also read
Video: UAE police officer goes viral for changing tyre of stranded SUV
Wednesday was a normal day for Sharqi, a resident of Al Nahda, until he went out on a drive with his wife, children and mother-in-law, who is on a visit from their hometown of Pattambi in Kerala, India, at night. They drove through the desert areas of Sharjah to enjoy the cool and fresh weather.
While enjoying the sand dunes alongside the road crossing the car's tyres got trapped in the sand.
"We tried our best to drive out by deflating the tyres, putting stones under the wheels and removing sand from around the tyres. But all ended up in vain," said Sharqi, who is running a public relations media company in the UAE.
Fed up, the children started having food there while others continued their efforts to drive the vehicle out. Later, a worker on a quad bike reached for their help, but still they couldn't succeed.
"We released a sigh of relief while a big four-wheeler stopped before us. A smart guy wearing a jacket that read " UAE Rescue" approached and offered help. He tried to deflate the tyre once again and tried to drive the car off the sands. While his primary plan failed to work out, he towed the vehicle out, with one of us on the driving seat," Sharqi told Khaleej Times.
After bringing the car out of sand, the rescue officer even gave advice on the risks of further driving it on the road as the tyres were short of air. "He told me about the nearest petrol station from where I could fill my tyres. As driving on the road was risky, he taught me an off-road way to reach a particular junction. And then, he smiled and drove off."
However, Sharqi and family failed to find the fuel station mentioned by the officer and had to drive on the road. He had to drive very slow on Sharjah-Mleiha Road because of the near-to flat tyres. "I realised it was very risky as other vehicles wouldn't be able to drive that slow and cause an accident."
There came the second saviour.
A beaconed vehicle overtook Sharqi's car and instructed him to stop.
"We drove the car to a convenient place just before the police vehicle had parked. As I had many 'police experiences' back home, I came out of my SUV with a set of anxieties. The officer greeted me and shook hands.
"To my surprise, the officer advised me on the risk of my slow speed and warned that the back tyre was almost 'flat'. He enquired whether I had a spare tyre inside the car and I could manage to change the tyre. I replied that "I will call for a support" . He said "no worries.. I can help you change the tyre"."
Sharqi said he was really ashamed to see the officer started working like a mechanic. "I just had to hand over the required tools to him. He crawled under the vehicle, kneeled down to remove the nuts and bolts, rolled the tyre and even packed the tools after finishing the work."
Before jumping in to his car, the officer didn't forget to say some sweet words to the children and some Hindi words to Sharqi.
anuwarrier@khaleejtimes.com
Extreme heat has blasted Asia from India to the Philippines in recent weeks, triggering heatstroke deaths, school closures and desperate prayers for cooling rain
asia2 hours ago
Special attention is directed towards controlling mosquitoes in stagnant water, ministry says
uae3 hours ago
That's why we have the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), which is to open up doors for people who are in trouble, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said
asia3 hours ago
King Abdullah II last visited the White House in February when he called for an immediate ceasefire
mena4 hours ago
Fujairah Airport earlier said it would connect the emirate to 18 new destinations
aviation4 hours ago
They were chauffeured in Ferrari and Bentley cars and got to dance to their heart's content in a private yacht party
uae5 hours ago
The country is prone to landslides during the rainy season, with the problem aggravated in some places by deforestation
asia5 hours ago
Foreign mediators have been waiting for Hamas' response to a proposal to halt the fighting for 40 days
mena5 hours ago