NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE ; THE NATIONAL
Nurses die in crash on way to hospital
DUBAI - FEB. 24: Two nurses were killed in a road crash yesterday while rushing to hospital. It is understood they were responding to an emergency call.
The collision, which occurred at about 3am at the junction of Damascus and Amman roads in Al Nahda, happened as the women, both Indian, were travelling to the Zulekha Hospital in the same district.
Dubai Police said they were in a car being driven by one of the nurses’ husbands when it went through a red light. The vehicle crashed into another car, which caused it to flip.
The nurses, aged 33 and 30, were both from the Kerala area of India. The 30-year-old’s husband, who was driving, sustained moderate injuries, while the driver of the other car, identified by the police as a UAE national named MZ, was unhurt.
Community members said that the two women had young children and had been living in the UAE for a while, where they had many relatives.
‘I will never go near the sea again’
The Pakistan embassy is flying Jehangir Khan home to see his daughter who was born during the time he spent adrift at sea. Jeff Topping / The National
ABU DHABI - FEB. 24: His is a remarkable tale of survival. After 18 hours alone at the mercy of the stormy seas that sank the ship he was working on, Jehangir Khan washed up, alive, on a remote island.
And even as he dodged death, thousands of miles away in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan his family was being blessed with the gift of new life. For at some point as he battled against the waves – in a storm that saw two colleagues die and six others disappear – his wife gave birth to his fifth daughter.
Still visibly shaken, he remembered those who died and are missing. “I have nothing to say except that I am thankful to God,” he said. “I remember all of them who were with me. I never thought something like this would happen.”
Speaking of his ordeal in the water, he said: “For the first four hours after the ship sank, I could not see anything. Everything was upside-down.”
An able swimmer, Mr Khan, 32, tried to keep his whole body in the sea, as he felt freezing outside the water.
“I’m so scared of sharks, whales and the sea. All I was thinking is that the fish would eat me, the shark will come. Whenever I used to travel in the sea, I would see the whales in there and giant fish.”
On Feb 11, five crew members and four drivers of trucks being transported on the ferry, including Mr Khan, were thrown into the waters off Abu Dhabi as the Dhanna III was battered by ferocious winds. The ferry had left Jebel Dhanna and sank seven hours into its journey to Jurnain Island. It had just two hours to go. Crew members were worried about the conditions before they left, Mr Khan said, but unlike his friends, he did not call his family despite being afraid.
“Mohammed Abbas, the Pakistani who died, was talking to his mother just before the ship sank. He was asking her to pray because he thought he was going to die.
“Someone, a friend, called me at 6pm just before the ship sank just to ask me if I had the number of a mutual friend. When he called I did ask him to pray for me because the weather was very bad.
“I didn’t phone my family because I didn’t want to give them any trouble while I was in trouble. I was consoling the others as well, telling them that, God willing, we will all be OK.”
Before setting off, he said, three of the crew had warned the captain that the weather was too violent to sail.
“I overheard someone on another vessel saying that it was not a good day to travel, and that they were not going. So I asked my captain and told him the weather is not good, there was a lot of wind. But, the captain said ‘No, it’s OK. Tomorrow it will be worse, so we have to go today. The other vessel refused to go.”
Life-jackets were given to the ferry crew just five minutes before the vessel began to sink, he said. Once water rushed into the vessel, it sank in minutes. “We were not told how to wear the jackets, I survived because I knew how to use the jacket.”
The next day, Mr Khan was washed up on Butiyna Island, where he was rescued by locals. Though he was conscious throughout the epic struggle, his memory was blurred and the only phone number he could recall was his brother’s.
Mr Khan, who has worked in Abu Dhabi for 10 years, earns Dh1,500 (US$410) a month and shares one room with five beds with nine other men. He earns an extra Dh300 for each sea trip, and has been on 20. His monthly rent of Dh1,300 is split between the group and he sends more than Dh1,000 back to his family every month.
When the ship sank, he lost his mobile phone and Dh2,800 that was in his pocket. By the time he reached shore, he had also lost his salwars (Pakistani trousers) and was wearing just his kameez (shirt).
The ship’s operator, Dalma Co-operative, has paid for his medical care – he injured his back in the accident – and allowed him time off. It will also replace the money he lost. His roommates bought him a new phone and SIM card.
His job remains, and he will return to the UAE once he has seen his new child. His embassy is flying him back home. “I will come back here because I have five daughters,” he said.
But two weeks on from the experience that almost cost him his life, Mr Khan has learnt one important lesson: “I will never go near the sea again and nor will my children.”
Waitress’s body found in manhole
DUBAI - FEB 24: Residents of Al Nahda, where the body of a 30-year-old waitress was found in a manhole just metres from her home, say they are now afraid to walk in their neighbourhood at night.
The manhole in Al Nahda area of Dubai where the body of a waitress who went missing on Feb 16 was found. Paulo Vecina / The National
Labourers working in the area made the grisly discovery on Sunday morning. The woman, who was identified as Han Han Soe from Myanmar, had been working for Emirates Airline’s catering service at Dubai International Airport’s newly opened Terminal 3.
She went missing on Feb 16 and her company reported her disappearance to the police.
Police declined to comment on the case yesterday, but the fact that she was found naked has led to speculation that she was murdered. It is understood that one person has been detained for questioning in connection with the case.
Her colleagues and flatmates said yesterday that Han Han Soe left her room to go out with friends at about 5pm on the day she disappeared.
“We heard that she was dropped off by her friends at a nearby supermarket at around 9.30pm that evening. She was walking back home when this happened,” said one colleague.
“We do not know if it is safe out there. The women in the building are refusing to even go to the nearby supermarkets,” he said.
One of the waitress’s friends, who lives in the room next to hers, added that “girls from her room who woke up for a morning walk noticed that she was not in her bed. It was later that a missing complaint was filed.”
“We can’t imagine that this could happen to her,” she said. “She was always very friendly to everyone. She never went out alone and I think this was only the second time that she stepped out of her apartment.”
Other colleagues and roommates also described Han Han Soe, the mother of a six-year-old girl in Myanmar, as a friendly and decent woman.
Meanwhile, construction work continues in the area, where there is no street lighting.
“We can see the manhole from our apartment and it is really scary. It happened so close to our home and we never knew about it,” said one resident who lives in the same building.
Residents added that the area became deserted and isolated at night. “After seven, it is very dark around here. There are no street lights at all,” one said.
“There are so many women living here who work as staff in various places. Even my female colleagues are scared to step out in the evenings after this incident,” said another woman.
None of the residents wished to be named.
Meanwhile, labourers working in the area described their horror at seeing the body being pulled out by police.
“We opened the manhole to cement it and we saw the body. Everyone stopped work. It was shocking,” said one. “We were not allowed to get close to the area. We saw the body being pulled out. There were no clothes on it.”