(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Dubai roads reported 135 accident and Sharjah 82. The Dubai Polices control room received 1639 distress calls from people.
Dubai — The severe standstorm that engulfed the whole of the UAE and caused a sharp fall in visibility also caused 217 accidents in Dubai and Sharjah and at least one in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Dubai roads reported 135 accident and Sharjah 82. The Dubai Police’s control room received 1639 distress calls from people.
In Abu Dhabi emirate a 24-year-old Emirati woman was seriously injured in an accident caused by low visibility on the Dubai-Al Ain Highway in Al Fagah locality. The woman was airlifted by a chopper ambulance to the nearest hospital.
In Sharjah a car overturned during the sand storm at 8.30am said Colonel Shawaf Mohamed Director of the police’s Traffic and Patrols Department. Two Moroccans suffered minor injuries and were rushed to Al Kuwaiti Hospital.
The traffic patrols rushed to Shaikh Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qasimi Road between Al Azra and Al Falaj in Sharjah and checked the exits after some persons called a radio station during the sand storm and reported that the situation in the area was dangerous he said.
Colonel Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi Deputy Director of the Command and Control Room of the Dubai Police said they received 1639 calls from people in distress during the sand storm. Most of the 135 accidents that occurred on the emirate’s roads ranged between medium and minor.
Col Al Shamsi called on all motorists to exercise utmost caution during difficult weather like the one witnessed on Thursday and during fog and rain because visibility could dropped to dangerous level. He said motorists must reduce speed leave enough distance between vehicles change lanes only if there is an emergency and to use front lights and not use the hazard lights which should be used only if the motorists is forced apply brakes suddenly.
As the sandstorm was lashing Colonel Jamal Salem Al Amiri head of the Public Relations Section at the Abu Dhabi Police’s Traffic and Patrols Directorate issued an advisory to motorists asking them to be very attentive especially on roads connecting Abu Dhabi and Al Sila and Dubai and Al Ain.