Expat dies a day before he was to travel home

Abu Dhabi: An Indian expatriate, who had lived in Abu Dhabi for almost four decades, was happy to pack up and get ready to settle down back home.

But, tragically, he died in a road accident just a day before making the journey, his colleagues and friends told Gulf News yesterday.

Mandayi Moideen, 65, met his long-term colleagues and friends in Abu Dhabi on Thursday to say goodbye as he was to fly home on Saturday. "But we never knew that it would turn out to be his farewell to life," Abdul Kareem, a colleague, said.

After almost four decades of hard work he wanted to take rest with his family back home, he said. He had packed everything. "It seems he wanted to purchase a small thing and went to Shahama Market by Thursday evening. But he did not come back," Abdul Kareem said.

After friends and relatives searched for him all over Abu Dhabi they learned on Saturday that he had died while crossing a road in Shahama on Thursday night.

Moideen, from the southern Indian state of Kerala, worked as a cook with a prominent Emirati family in Shahama for 20 years. He is survived by his wife and three sons and three daughters back home.

His body was flown home on Sunday night.