Chief geologist 'ignored procedures'

Ras Al Khaimah: The bodies of the two Ukrainian geologists who died in the desert were flown to their home town on Wednesday via Dubai International Airport.

Colonel Abdullah Khamis Al Hadidi, who heads the Criminal Investigation Department here, said the victims 50-year-old Vladimir Sovich and 27-year-old Dimitri Shoback died of sun stroke and severe heat exhaustion.

Col Al Hadidi said the inquest found no foul play.

The victim's sponsor, Fujairah-based company NaftoGaz, Middle East, made the necessary arrangements for the bodies to be flown home after completing the formalities with the authorities.

NaftoGaz has a partnership agreement with a foreign company to survey the areas for gas prospects, Hamad Darwish, the Chairman of Board of NaftoGaz, Middle East, said.

It was the parent company that summoned the Ukrainian geologists.

Darwish said an internal investigation found that the chief of the geologists' team did not follow procedures when the two went missing.

Darwish said a team of three Ukrainian geologists went on a desert tour in Fujairah, but they lost their way and went deeper into the desert and entered Ras Al Khaimah. When they realised they had lost their way they called their colleagues seeking help.

The missing geologists communicated their GPS coordinates and location to their colleagues.

Darwish said at this point the team chief should have reported the incident to the police, but did not. Instead the team chief decided to go out on a rescue mission. They left in several vehicles and the teams went deeper into the desert and their vehicles got stuck in the sand.

Darwish said only then did the team chief report the case to the management of the company and the police.

All the geologists had water with them, but what had affected them all was the extreme heat in the desert, he added.

The Ras Al Khaimah Police were aware of the incident as a national from Al Saeedi area had reported seeing a dead body in the desert.

Col Al Hadidi said the dead bodies were covered with black spots indicating severe heat exhaustion.

Though both the dead geologists had enough water with them it was the heat that took their lives, Col Al Hadidi said.

The rescued geologists were taken to Saqr Hospital. The condition of one of them was critical.

He said the mistake the geologists committed was failure to report the missing cases.

Sovich had arrived in the UAE only one day before his death, police said.

Darwish said his company had asked all geologists to take only vehicles provided by the company. Such vehicles are driven by nationals who know the area well, he added.

An internal investigation found that the missing geologists had GPS, telephone and water with them. But the chief of the team failed to inform the police and company officials.