Driver burnt to death after truck collision in Dubai

Dubai: A truck driver was burnt to death when his truck collided with another on a street that connects Shaikh Zayed Road with Dubai-Al Ain Road on Sunday night, police said.

Police said the truck loaded with rock collided with another truck that was in the right lane. As a result, the first truck caught fire and the driver was burnt to death.

The Dubai Police Operations Room received the accident report at 10.55pm.

The road where the accident took place is mostly used by heavy trucks.

Police said the trucker was driving recklessly and could have fallen asleep, which caused the horrific accident. The driver of the other truck escaped without injury.

Police patrols and rescue teams arrived at the scene and took the driver's charred body out after extinguishing the fire. The body was handed over to forensic experts.

An eyewitness told Gulf News that he saw the accident as he was heading home from Abu Dhabi. "I saw a truck on fire and also heard explosions. I have never seen such a sight in my life."

The traffic police will now intensify monitoring of internal roads to deter heavy vehicles from using them to escape police campaigns on highways, a senior official said yesterday.

Lieutenant Colonel Saif Al Mazroui, Acting Deputy Director of Dubai Police's Traffic Department, said many heavy vehicles are now taking internal roads to escape detection on highways.

He said most heavy vehicles do not abide by load limits and overload their trucks, which causes accidents.

Lt Col Al Mazroui said there are continuous campaigns to crack down on offences by heavy vehicles, but some drivers are trying to go around the check-ups by taking internal roads.

He said the radars on many roads caught 218 offences by heavy vehicles in the first quarter of this year.

According to statistics, the traffic department reported about 29,700 offences by heavy vehicles in the first quarter of this year.

The offences included driving vehicles that do not meet safety standards, driving on banned roads or areas, overloading, failure to indicate the capacity on the sides of the trucks, unfit tyres and others.