Dubai September 27 will remain etched forever in the mind of Mohammad Hassan.
The Egyptian was fast asleep at his apartment in the MAG 214 building in Jumeirah Lake Towers when a gut-wreching scream jolted him awake. It was 6.50am. Hassan rushed out and was greeted by a surreal spectacle: A young Iranian woman from the neighbouring apartment pacing the corridor, shouting hysterically and pressing the elevator button.
"When the elevator came I went in with her. Midway she stopped the elevator and stepped out. When I reached the ground floor and walked to the parking entrance, I saw a little boy lying in a pool of blood and a girl — the boy's sister — holding his hand," Hassan recounted.
"By now building security guards had arrived on the scene and were trying to keep the crowds away."
Hassan said even as he was trying to figure out what had happened, he saw the woman again. "She had reached her apartment and was trying to pry open the window. Fearing that she might jump out, a security guard and I ran upstairs. The elevators were busy so we took the stairs. When we reached her flat 809 we found it empty. We saw the women when we looked out of the window. She was lying on the ground eight floors below," Hassan said.
He said the one-bedroom flat in which the woman lived was around 750-800 square feet. In the living room was a TV and a sofa-cum-bed, both of which were away from the window. Hassan said he was intrigued how the woman and her child got out of the small opening
"I have got a similar window in my apartment. It's just 120cm X18cm," he said. According to police, the mother rushed down after she couldn't find her son in the flat, only to discover him lying in a pool of blood at the building entrance. She then ran up to her flat and jumped out the window. Both bodies have been kept at the morgue at Rashid Hospital for her husband to return.
Hassan said the family had moved into the apartment just one month earlier.
Tragic Tuesday
- 6.50am: Mohammad Hassan, resident of flat 808, MAG 214, wakes up to a woman's screams
- He opens the door and sees a woman running to the elevator. Hassan presses for the elevator buttons
- The woman stops the elevator in the middle and returns to her flat
- Hassan goes down and finds a five-year-old boy lying in a pool of blood near the parking entrance
- The boy's teenaged sister tries to revive him.
- Hassan sees the frantic mother trying to break open her apartment window
- Hassan and a security guard rush upstairs only to find the apartment empty. He looks down and sees the woman lying on the ground
- Police officers arrive on the scene at 7.35am
