Residents urged not to drive up RAK mountain

Ras Al Khaimah: The snow which fell on Jebel Jais started melting on Sunday. There was an unprecedented public desire to visit the mountain to see the snow and experience the rare occurrence in the UAE.

Major Saeed Rashid Al Yamahi, head of the Air Wing at the RAK Police, said that the snow has started melting.

He said that his section received hundreds of requests from the public looking for an opportunity to see the mountain and the snow.

He added that there is no road access to the mountain and that the snow on top of the mountain can only be viewed from a helicopter.

He called on the public to refrain from going to the mountain by road on their own as the mountain is unreachable without a plane.

Major Al Yamahi said that authorities have already approved certain public departments and the other official departments to visit the mountains during the snowfall.

He added that official departments such as educational agencies can be flown to the mountains to see the snow, but "as for the families there has been no official approval."

He said that the issue of the families was discussed, but it appeared that there was a problem with the increasing number of people who want to get to the top of the mountains to see the snow.

He said that hundreds of people around the UAE had called yesterday asking to visit the mountain, but that none of these public requests have been fulfilled so far.

Emiratis, residents of Ras Al Khaimah and visitors from around the UAE arrived here, assuming that they would be able to reach it by car.

They were shocked to find that they need a helicopter to do so.

Mariam Mahmoud Thaika, a Singaporean woman, said she came to Ras Al Khaimah along with three cousins from Jumeirah in Dubai to climb the mountain.

She added that the pictures they saw in the papers motivated them to come.

She said they had checked before they came and knew there was road access to the mountain.

She said they got lost in Ras Al Khaimah trying to reach the mountain and were later disappointed to find out that they could only get to it by helicopter.

Rashid Eisa Al Shehi, an Emirati, urged the authorities to set up plane facilities and organise visits to the mountains, adding that the snowfall was a unique occurrence which people have to see and enjoy.

He said the snow-covered mountains could be a huge tourist attraction in the region and could easily draw thousands of visitors in a couple of days.