Five commuters were killed and 277 injured in a horrific 200-vehicle pileup between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the early hours of Tuesday, according a police statement issued to official news agency WAM.
Police blamed poor visibility due to fog and careless driving to be the cause of the accident.
130 injured were taken to Al Mafrak Hospital in Abu Dhabi hospital. Out of these ten were reported to be critical, 20 sustained moderate injuries and 100 mild injuries, said officials.
Al Rahba hospital in the capital received four critically injured victims, another 32 sustained moderate injuries and 100 mild injuries. One critically injured patient was sent to Dubai, according to police.
Earlier reports said eight people have died and 141 others have been injured in the accident between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the early hours of Tuesday, quoting emergency workers.
The vehicles smashed into each other in thick fog at around 6.45 am on the Dubai-bound side of Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Road, said eyewitnesses and emergency workers.
* Watch the video of the accident site
Emergency workers said two major pileups actually occurred on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai freeway. The first one took place near Ghantoot, involving over 50 cars.
The second one was near Samha, just before Ghantoot.
As of 1pm on Tuesday, a total of 141 injuries were reported, of which 39 were major injuries and 102 minor. The injured were taken to Rashid Hospital in Dubai and Al Mafrak Hospital and Khaleefa Hospital in Abu Dhabi.
* Watch this page for updates. Have you witnessed the accident? Send us your pictures and comments.
Ninety-two cars caught fire in the smash-ups, said Khalifa Al Darrai, chief executive of the ambulance service centre in Dubai.
“I have never witnessed an accident of this scale before. Apparently, there was thick fog that led to the collisions.
“Patients were lying on the road. Thankfully, they had abandoned their cars or else the death toll would have risen significantly,'' Al Darrai told XPRESS by phone.
“We sent people who suffered serious to minor injuries to two hospitals.''
The centre sent over a dozen ambulances, three first response cars and two disaster cars to the accident site.
“Two doctors and nurses from the Rashid Trauma Centre have been sent in a police helicopter to the site. In addition to this there are many ambulances and police rescue teams that have been sent from Abu Dhabi,'' said Al Darrai.
It will take time before the extent of the incident can be assessed, said Al Darrai.
“Now we are clearing off the burnt cars from the road and trying to bring the situation under control.''
An eyewitness said the stretch of highway near Ghantoot looked like a “disaster area'', because of the huge number of vehicles that went up in smoke.
In Dubai, six people have been rushed to Rashid trauma centre.
“It is a disaster because all the patients were brought in a critical condition and are undergoing surgery at this moment,'' said a doctor at the centre.
An employee of Al Nisr Group making his way towards Dubai in the morning said, “You could just hear them (cars) crash. I couldn't see anything in front of me because of the dense fog.''
The accident scene, located approximately 60 kilometers outside the capital, is nearby the Al Ghantoot area.
Traffic is being diverted back to Abu Dhabi through an exit close to the scene along the highway.
The other side of the road is clear, it has been reported.
A fuel leak may have triggered a chain reaction that set more than 92 cars on fire, according to witnesses.
Jassim Al Nuaimi, who drove before 7.30am on the other side of the road from Khalifa City A to Abu Dhabi, told XPRESS he had difficulty stopping his car, and said the slippery road conditions may have worsened the accident.
“I was driving at 40kph and the outside temperature was about 16 degree C. I slammed on the breaks but my car still slid three car lengths,'' said Al Nuaimi.
Your comments
I was looking at some of the photos taken of the fog, and it’s interesting to note how few cars had their lights on during those conditions. Is it any wonder there was so many cars involved.
Anonymous, UAE - Dubai
Posted: March 17, 2008, 08:46
People do not change even after such a horrific scene this morning. I was driving back at 5 pm from Marina to Bur Dubai and an Abu Dhabi registered 4x4 was flashing lights all the time and driving at a reckless speed. Not being enough, I saw a black Porsche 4x4 driving so madly that it kept changing lanes every 10 seconds. People are driving posh cars with such low concern for others!
Anonymous, UAE - Dubai
Posted: March 11, 2008, 20:42
I was there in the crowd and pray that everyone must be safe and more careful now onwards. We must appreciate the tireless efforts of police and rescue staff. How they helped people and did the rescue work was absolutely remarkable. I feel honoured to live in a country with such responsible and sincere officials. Thank you UAE!
Rumaisa, UAE - Abu Dhabi
Posted: March 11, 2008, 20:06
Real tragedy, but it was bound to happen. I do travel this route often and even when we are on the fast lane doing the allowed speed, you have other cars right behind you flashing. Sometimes they get so close that you can see the driver of the other vehicle clearly. We need to educate the road users and change the mentality. No number of cameras will make them slow down. Fines should be increased, and if possible offenders should be imprisoned. It’s not always the fast drivers who are responsible for accidents. We have drivers cruising at 60km/h right next to the fast lane. Education and stringent punishments and more police presence will hopefully drive some sense into the road users and make driving a pleasure. As of now, it is like a trip to the gladiators ring wondering if we will come back home.
Anonymous, UAE - Abu Dhabi
Posted: March 11, 2008, 19:23
accident. This afternoon, when I drove home it was like driving through a cemetery/crematorium. Shocking waste of life of innocent people all because of irresponsible driving. Authorities need to clamp down this practice. More police presence required on highways besides enforcing the new laws that they have just passed.
Barbara, UAE - Dubai
Posted: March 11, 2008, 17:44
I work as a journalist here in Dubai. I would like to thank you for your story on the crash - it was by far the best both for accuracy and speed. You were reporting from the scene itself, and you had the best updates throughout the day. Once again, thank you!
Anonymous, UAE - Dubai
Posted: March 11, 2008, 17:19
I think it’s about time the authorities enforced to full extent on traffic safety in all UAE roads. Particularly those drivers who tail so close from behind at high speed. More mobile police patrolling is needed and they must apprehend drivers that are driving mad.
Mar, UAE - Dubai
Posted: March 11, 2008, 16:53
We were travelling to the Academic City in the morning. Suddenly our driver pulled the hand brakes in his haste to stop the bus. As the bus stopped we could hear a lot of screeching sounds around us and cars kept colliding behind. When we got out of the bus to look at the sight, it was far beyond horrific. There was no end to the destruction on the road.
Anonymous, UAE - Abu Dhabi
Posted: March 11, 2008, 16:33
Does anyone run across the street with a blindfold on and expect to make it to the other side? How is driving at 160 in the fog any smarter exactly?
Maybe the scale of this accident will have the effect of what is so obvious. People, we all need to slow down, reconsider what we call 'safe following distance' (1 meter) and think about how our reckless driving habits can harm people that are being careful. I find it surprising that this does not happen every day. Some cars get so close to me that i can't actually see them frantically flashing their lights at me to get out of the way.
Anonymous, UAE - Abu Dhabi
Posted: March 11, 2008, 15:37
As usual, we left home by 06.15 in the morning and to our surprise it was another misty morning and the visibility was 10m and we were travelling with extra care and caution.
Even though the visibility was very poor we noticed cars speeding and most of them with their hazard lights on, and this wouldn't keep me from letting every one know that even though the mist and poor visibility which was less than 10m, there was a vehicle just behind us flashing his head lights asking us way. Is this the way that they care of safety? Haven't they heard that speed kills? This is the way they cause disasters just like this one that happened this morning.
When we were almost reaching Ghantoot flyover, a man on the fast lane was waving his hands signaling stop and even with such poor visibility we noticed him and was quick to think and recognize that disaster was ahead and then we applied breaks and managed to get the vehicle on to the hard shoulder, but to our unbelief we were hit from the back. It was the first time in my life that I was in a vehicle which was involved in an accident. I was in shock and couldn't think for a second what had happened in a flash.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I seen what had happened just in front of us, it was a real horrific and horrible site with cars piled and scattered all over and the poor labourers(who are always the victims) lying on the ground waiting for help to arrive. My earnest requests to all drivers… please drive with extra care and caution and try to learn a lesson from today's incident.
Anonymous, UAE - Dubai
Posted: March 11, 2008, 15:31
This website has taken major photos from you and not given you the credit you deserve: daijiworld.com.
Anonymous, UAE - Abu Dhabi
Posted: March 11, 2008, 15:22
I started at 7:10 am from Al Samha and reached Jebel Ali at 12:00 Noon. You know the reason why. The heavy traffic piled up due to accidents. The first accident I saw was before reaching Al Sameih Bridge, involving a bunch of cars. Somehow I passed from there through the bridge. I thought the accident was over, and I continued my ride to Dubai. After a hundred metres, I found just on my side a car hitting a police car which was parked on speed track with hazard lights on. I escaped from there too.
After driving a bit ahead, there was a huge line of cars jam packed in stand still situation. I walked towards the front (around 1 km). The road was blocked except the service lane in the left end of the road. Soon the police vehicles started rushing in along with ambulances, fire engines, and recovery vehicles from Samha, Khalifa Medical City, Jebel Ali free zones...
After almost two hours, a helicopter arrived. And finally when they moved the traffic, on the way I saw more than twenty cars were burned and many cars have been destroyed or in a very bad condition. The street lights & the trees over & under the Ghantoot Bridge were black in colour. I have never seen such a horrible and terrifying accident in my whole life. Not even on any of the James Bond movies...
I just have a request to the readers: Try and drive carefully... especially during bad whether conditions. Maybe this disaster arose from one person driving recklessly.
Shabeen, UAE - Dubai
Posted: March 11, 2008, 15:17
