UAE | Crime
Dubai Police's rescue teams first on the scene
Whether it is a huge accident or a minor minor one, Dubai Police's Rescue teams are always up to the challenge with one vision: saving a life.
- By Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:11 October 20, 2008
- Major Ahmad Burqibah, Deputy Director of Dubai Police's Rescue Department, told Gulf News that the size of the accident or mission does not matter as much as the lives involved.
- Image Credit: Gulf News
Dubai: Whether it is a huge accident or a minor minor one, Dubai Police's Rescue teams are always up to the challenge with one vision: saving a life.
Major Ahmad Burqibah, Deputy Director of Dubai Police's Rescue Department, told Gulf News that the size of the accident or mission does not matter as much as the lives involved.
"Sometimes we attend to minor accidents, but they involve saving a life trapped in a car or under wreckage," he said. "Therefore, the size of an accident is not a true measure for our missions."
Four sections
Major Burqibah said the Rescue Department is one of the oldest departments established to provide humanitarian rescue services for Dubai residents and other emirates also.
He said the department falls under the Operations Department and consists of four main sections: the Sea Rescue Section, Land Rescue and the Difficult Missions Team.
The rescue department currently has 345 military and civil personnel and plans to increase the number to 900 within the next five years.
Major Burqibah said the rescue department is connected to Dubai Police's Operations Room which notifies them of any accidents which require the department's help.
According to latest statistics, Dubai Police's rescue teams have attended to 306 accidents on land in the past nine months of this year. In the same nine months of 2007, rescue teams attended to 305 similar accidents.
Amputation avoided
"There have been a number of accidents in the past nine months which include rescuing a man's hand which got trapped in a copier," Major Burqibah said. "Doctors said his hand must be cut, but our rescue teams were able to free the hand and save it from being amputated."
Other incidents in which rescue teams played a vital role included rescuing a man who fell in a hole at Dubai International Airport, saving seven people who got lost in a deserted area of Al Maliha in Sharjah, freeing a man's hand which got trapped in a cement mixer and participating with the rescue teams in Ajman in the accident of a hotel collapse which killed six people in June.
Another accident which the rescue teams dealt with this year was a fire which broke out in a Ramadan tent. No injuries were reported, but the fire gutted the entire tent on Al Maktoum Road.
The rescue teams also attended to 103 accidents at sea, 50 of them were drowning and near drowning cases in the past nine months of this year. In the same nine months of 2007, the teams attended to 105 such accidents, 37 of them were drowning and near drowning cases.
The rescue teams also carried out 35 operations of freeing trapped cars in the sands compared to 36 operations in the nine months of 2007.
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