Dubai: Two men died and a third was injured when their pick-up crashed into a tanker on Sunday morning.
Dubai Police said the accident happened on Business Bay Bridge towards Deira at about 8.45am, which caused a massive traffic jam.
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Chief Traffic Prosecutor Salah Bu Farousha, Head of Dubai Traffic Public Prosecution (TPP), told Gulf News that the Pakistani driver of the tanker has been provisionally detained for reckless driving and causing two deaths.
"The 23-year-old Pakistani man was driving a water tanker. Suddenly he veered into another lane and rammed into a pick-up carrying refreshments. An Egyptian driver, in his 30s, who was driving a pick-up, could not avoid the water tanker due to the sudden swerving. Two passengers in the pick-up, a Filipino and an Indian, died instantly. The Egyptian who sustained minor injuries was taken to hospital for treatment," said Bu Farousha.
The Pakistani driver is currently detained and will be questioned by traffic prosecutors today, according to TPP's Head.
Reckless driving
"He is facing primary charges of reckless and inattentive driving and causing two deaths after ramming into another vehicle. He also faces charges of causing damage to properties of others. He escaped without any injury… he remains in custody pending further investigations," concluded Bu Farousha.
The accident caused traffic jams and traffic was diverted from Business Bay Bridge towards Festival Centre as the bridge was blocked by the crashed vehicles, police cars and ambulances.
A witness who was driving from Sharjah to Shaikh Zayed Road said he first knew of the accident when he saw a warning on the information sign before the Airport Tunnel on Beirut Street.
"There was a sign at the tunnel which said ‘Traffic jam ahead', and for a moment I thought it was road works in the area causing the jam," the witness told Gulf News.
Although traffic was flowing freely in the Bur Dubai direction, people were driving slowly to look at the accident, which caused a traffic jam in the other direction as well.
Dubai Police's ambitious plan to reduce traffic-related deaths to zero for every 100,000 residents by 2020 has resulted in a drop in the number of road accident victims from 21.7 per 100,000 residents in 2007 to 4.5 per 100,000 in 2010, which earned the emirate the fifth position among the most advanced cities in the world with the lowest number of road deaths.
