Ras Al Khaimah: An Emirati mother of three saved the lives of her three little daughters, a sister and a housemaid who were travelling with her when she lost control on the car after the car’s cruise control failed at a speed of 138 k/ph.

“In order to save my family and the maid I had to ram my car into other vehicles in front to stop my car,” said Iman Masoud Al Shehi.

Al Shehi, a 29-year-old mother of three daughters Noora, 10, Nadia, 8, and Hind, three and a half years, recalls 25 minutes of horror she lived with her family and the maid last Saturday when she lost control on her car on Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road on way to Ras Al Khaimah.

Al Shehi told Gulf News that she was coming back to her home in Ras Al Khaimah along with her family and the maid when she felt that there was something wrong in her car.

“I lost control on my car near Umm Al Quwain. So I contacted 999 and in less than a minute Umm Al Quwain police told me that I just entered Ras Al Khaimah and that they will transfer my call to Ras Al Khaimah police,” she said.

She said her car was speeding and she was unable to stop it.

“My four wheel drive vehicle kept going on as I felt that my vehicle’s cruise control broke down,” she said.

Al Shehi said she was scared as her car kept going on.

“My children were crying in fear when I saw police patrols coming from the other side of the road,” she said.

“Police tried to make me drive on the sandy area to avoid going inside the city but that was hard,” she said.

She said police patrols, ambulance and the rescue cars followed her.

“I was frightened, I burst into tears while my sister who was sitting next to me tried to calm down the maid and the children,” she said.

Al Shehi said she came close to the busy Etihad roundabout near the university area at the entrance of RAK.

“I was praying that police will clear the road. Before reaching the busy roundabout police tried their best to get all the cars and people away,” she said.

Al Shehi said she used the flash lights and unleashed her car honk to alert the other drivers,” she said.

She said that she decided to ram into other vehicles in order to slow down her car.

“It was very hard decision for me but I had to take it in order to save my family’s lives and to save other people’s lives too,” she said.

“My children were scared but I thank almighty Allah that no one was injured except me. I sustained moderate injures in shoulder and head,” she said.

She said police helped them out of the car.

Al Shehi said that she had a similar incident last year when the cruise control broke down and at that time her brother helped her over the phone.

“My brother told me that I have to put the gear on neutral and hold the hand break,” she said.

Police said this was the third similar incident that happened on Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road as two other cars have the accelerator broken.

Police expressed satisfaction for having been able to help the driver control her car without any causalities.