In what seems to be the worst accident to be ever recorded in the history of the United Arab Emirates, more than 200 cars were involved in a massive pile-up on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai Road that according to early estimates might have claimed eight lives. About 284 people were also reported injured, 15 were in critical condition and 67 had sustained moderate injuries.
The injured, some of them in critical condition have been rushed to the Khalifa Hospital. Rescue teams from Dubai and Abu Dhabi swung into action immediately as ambulances, helicopters and patrol cars were rushed to the scene.
Police sources have blamed poor visibility condition brought about by the fog for the crash.
Two eyewitnesses on the scene of the mishap recounted the tragedy as it unfolded before their eyes. Zeeshan Javed a regular commuter on the stretch says that he just escaped ‘by a whisker’ as the cars in front of smashed into each other. “It was a big pile up. I personally counted about eighty cars that had been wrecked beyond recognition. Even though emergency units were quick to respond the fact remains that there have been casualities. I have never seen an accident of this magnitude. Some cars that had caught fire were charred beyond recognition. This has to be the worst ever.”
Mobi Sher another commuter said that he was stuck in the traffic jam as a result of the accident for almost four hours. “The scene was absolutely ghastly. All around me the cars were lying in a massive wreck.” While the poor visibility conditions have been blamed for the mishap, Sher said that the presence of oil residue from cars on the road probably contributed to the massive pile-up. “I have noticed that most motorists tend to speed on this stretch and that could contributed to the entire mess. It was horrific.”
For Imad Eldin it was a nightmare that had come rather early in the morning. Eldin who travels to Dubai everyday to his job in Al Quoz cannot bring himself to talk about the horrendous scenes he witnessed. “There were cars littered all over, ambulance sirens wailing, it was absolutely unreal. I was stuck in the same spot for three hours. I saw people sitting motionless in front of their steering wheels. There were others that were lying on the road and still others with injuries waiting to be attended to by the paramedics. I hope they were alright though the cab driver kept insisting that they were dead. It is terrible. I personally saw about eight completely wrecked vehicles. I had only heard about these tragedies, but today I have seen one for myself. I wish I hadn’t.”
Inputs from Adel Arafah and Ahmad Abdul Aziz
To see more pictures of the accident click here
Readers invited to send the comments & pictures:
If you have been witness to this tragic accidents we would like to hear from you. Send your comments and to: ktpictures@khaleejtimes.ae
Scenes from the accident at Shaikh Rashid bin Saaed Road, Ghantoot area of Abu Dhabi, in which more than 100 cars were involved. Poor visibility conditions have been blamed for the accident. – Pictures by Rashida Feroz.
To see more pictures of the accident click here
LOCAL REACTIONS
‘I have never seen anything so horrible’
I started at 7:10 am from Al Samha & I reached Jebel Ali at 12:00 noon.
Reason you know… The Heavy Traffic Piled up due to Accident(s)
The First Accident I saw was before reaching Al Sameih Bridge, it was a bunch of cars . Some how I passed from there through the bridge. I thought the accident is over & I continued with Dubai road. After hundred meters I found just on my side a car hitting a police car which was parked on speed track with hazard lights on. I escaped from there too. After driving bit ahead… again there was a huge line of cars jam packed in stand still situation. I walked towards the front … around 1 Km, (or may be more) the road was blocked except the service lane in the left end of the road. Soon the police vehicles started rushing in…. along with ambulances, fire engines, recovery vehicles.. From Samha, Khalifa medical city, Jebel Ali free zones. After almost two hours helicopter arrived.
And finally when they moved the traffic, on the way I saw more than twenty cars were burned & many cars have been destroyed in a very bad condition. The street Lights & the Trees over & under the Ghantoor Bridge were Black in colour.
I have never seen such a horrible & terrifying accident in my whole life.
I just have a request to the readers. Try and dry carefully. especially during bad whether conditions. May be this disaster raised from one person who was driving restlessly.
BE CARE FULL… OF YOUR LIFE & GIVE SPECIAL CARE OF YOUR FELLOW BEINGS
Regards,
P. S. Shabeen
‘God saved me’
I started from Abu Dhabi at 6.15 AM and reached the first accident location, which is after the Second ADNOC Pump, around 6.40AM. I was heading to that location at a speed of 120 – 140km/ hr and the road was entirely empty. At that time a Patrol Team crossed mine and another Toyota Avalon vehicle to stop and follow them. I passed the 1st incident place about within 5 minutes and came the second – that also passed within 10 mins since the road was diverted. Finally I reached the third incident place at 6.55 – 07.00 AM and was in the block until 11.25AM and have witnessed the entire tragic conditions.
Moreover, as per the comments from the fellow readers, I need to raise my voice that, snow or over speeding is not only the reason for accident but the same is only due to the carelessness of 1 or 2 people. Moreover, I used to travel to and fro, Abu Dhabi – Dubai on daily basis. According to me, all the accidents are caused due to the usage of mobile phone while driving, inappropriate usage of signals or changing tracks without any close check or any appropriate signals. Moreover, I used to see some practices in prevalence with some of the fellows that, on the highways too, some people drives the car at the lower speed than lowest speed assigned for the road and on the other hand, some people who use the acceleration track won’t be interested to care about others coming behind and will be applying sudden brakes unnecessarily and won’t be clearing the lane (even they clear the track, wont be going inside the next track fully, but in – 50:50 Ratio) after signals or will be coming back to the same track within seconds (sometimes the vehicle which asked for the path might haven’t passed him) and moreover, the poorly maintained vehicles only will be resulting in such tragic accidents.
Moreover, I have to be thankful to the god for making me delay in starting from Abu Dhabi. Usually, the incident time is my usual passing time (EXACTLY THE SAME TIME –1st Petrol Pump by 6.12 to 6.15, 2nd by +20 to 25 mins and the 3rd maximum by 6.55 to 7.05AM) of those areas and by the grace of god – I’M SAVED
لاحول ولا قوه الا بالله
الله يرحم اموات المسلمين و يصبر اهاليهم
والله يحفظ جميع المسلمين
و ادعوا لاموات المسلمين بالرحمه و المغفره
الصور
انا لله وانا اليه راجعين
سبحان الله انا اليوم ماقمت للدوام
راحت على نومه …. الحمد الله لك يارب
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Road horror in Abu Dhabi; eight reported dead
Staff Reporter
11 March 2008
In what seems to be the worst accident to be ever recorded in the history of the United Arab Emirates, more than 200 cars were involved in a massive pile-up on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai Road that according to early estimates might have claimed eight lives. About 284 people were also reported injured, 15 were in critical condition and 67 had sustained moderate injuries.
The injured, some of them in critical condition have been rushed to the Khalifa Hospital. Rescue teams from Dubai and Abu Dhabi swung into action immediately as ambulances, helicopters and patrol cars were rushed to the scene.
Police sources have blamed poor visibility condition brought about by the fog for the crash.
Two eyewitnesses on the scene of the mishap recounted the tragedy as it unfolded before their eyes. Zeeshan Javed a regular commuter on the stretch says that he just escaped ‘by a whisker’ as the cars in front of smashed into each other. “It was a big pile up. I personally counted about eighty cars that had been wrecked beyond recognition. Even though emergency units were quick to respond the fact remains that there have been casualities. I have never seen an accident of this magnitude. Some cars that had caught fire were charred beyond recognition. This has to be the worst ever.”
Mobi Sher another commuter said that he was stuck in the traffic jam as a result of the accident for almost four hours. “The scene was absolutely ghastly. All around me the cars were lying in a massive wreck.” While the poor visibility conditions have been blamed for the mishap, Sher said that the presence of oil residue from cars on the road probably contributed to the massive pile-up. “I have noticed that most motorists tend to speed on this stretch and that could contributed to the entire mess. It was horrific.”
For Imad Eldin it was a nightmare that had come rather early in the morning. Eldin who travels to Dubai everyday to his job in Al Quoz cannot bring himself to talk about the horrendous scenes he witnessed. “There were cars littered all over, ambulance sirens wailing, it was absolutely unreal. I was stuck in the same spot for three hours. I saw people sitting motionless in front of their steering wheels. There were others that were lying on the road and still others with injuries waiting to be attended to by the paramedics. I hope they were alright though the cab driver kept insisting that they were dead. It is terrible. I personally saw about eight completely wrecked vehicles. I had only heard about these tragedies, but today I have seen one for myself. I wish I hadn’t.”
Inputs from Adel Arafah and Ahmad Abdul Aziz
To see more pictures of the accident click here
Readers invited to send the comments & pictures:
If you have been witness to this tragic accidents we would like to hear from you. Send your comments and to: ktpictures@khaleejtimes.ae
Scenes from the accident at Shaikh Rashid bin Saaed Road, Ghantoot area of Abu Dhabi, in which more than 100 cars were involved. Poor visibility conditions have been blamed for the accident. – Pictures by Rashida Feroz.
To see more pictures of the accident click here
LOCAL REACTIONS
‘I have never seen anything so horrible’
I started at 7:10 am from Al Samha & I reached Jebel Ali at 12:00 noon.
Reason you know… The Heavy Traffic Piled up due to Accident(s)
The First Accident I saw was before reaching Al Sameih Bridge, it was a bunch of cars . Some how I passed from there through the bridge. I thought the accident is over & I continued with Dubai road. After hundred meters I found just on my side a car hitting a police car which was parked on speed track with hazard lights on. I escaped from there too. After driving bit ahead… again there was a huge line of cars jam packed in stand still situation. I walked towards the front … around 1 Km, (or may be more) the road was blocked except the service lane in the left end of the road. Soon the police vehicles started rushing in…. along with ambulances, fire engines, recovery vehicles.. From Samha, Khalifa medical city, Jebel Ali free zones. After almost two hours helicopter arrived.
And finally when they moved the traffic, on the way I saw more than twenty cars were burned & many cars have been destroyed in a very bad condition. The street Lights & the Trees over & under the Ghantoor Bridge were Black in colour.
I have never seen such a horrible & terrifying accident in my whole life.
I just have a request to the readers. Try and dry carefully. especially during bad whether conditions. May be this disaster raised from one person who was driving restlessly.
BE CARE FULL… OF YOUR LIFE & GIVE SPECIAL CARE OF YOUR FELLOW BEINGS
Regards,
P. S. Shabeen
‘God saved me’
I started from Abu Dhabi at 6.15 AM and reached the first accident location, which is after the Second ADNOC Pump, around 6.40AM. I was heading to that location at a speed of 120 – 140km/ hr and the road was entirely empty. At that time a Patrol Team crossed mine and another Toyota Avalon vehicle to stop and follow them. I passed the 1st incident place about within 5 minutes and came the second – that also passed within 10 mins since the road was diverted. Finally I reached the third incident place at 6.55 – 07.00 AM and was in the block until 11.25AM and have witnessed the entire tragic conditions.
Moreover, as per the comments from the fellow readers, I need to raise my voice that, snow or over speeding is not only the reason for accident but the same is only due to the carelessness of 1 or 2 people. Moreover, I used to travel to and fro, Abu Dhabi – Dubai on daily basis. According to me, all the accidents are caused due to the usage of mobile phone while driving, inappropriate usage of signals or changing tracks without any close check or any appropriate signals. Moreover, I used to see some practices in prevalence with some of the fellows that, on the highways too, some people drives the car at the lower speed than lowest speed assigned for the road and on the other hand, some people who use the acceleration track won’t be interested to care about others coming behind and will be applying sudden brakes unnecessarily and won’t be clearing the lane (even they clear the track, wont be going inside the next track fully, but in – 50:50 Ratio) after signals or will be coming back to the same track within seconds (sometimes the vehicle which asked for the path might haven’t passed him) and moreover, the poorly maintained vehicles only will be resulting in such tragic accidents.
Moreover, I have to be thankful to the god for making me delay in starting from Abu Dhabi. Usually, the incident time is my usual passing time (EXACTLY THE SAME TIME –1st Petrol Pump by 6.12 to 6.15, 2nd by +20 to 25 mins and the 3rd maximum by 6.55 to 7.05AM) of those areas and by the grace of god – I’M SAVED
Mintu John
صور الحادث اضغط على الرابط
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لا حول و لا قوة الا بالله ان لله و ان اليه راجعون
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