Dubai: Shock and grief have engulfed families, friends and colleagues of the expatriates who died in a horrific crash on Emirates Road on Tuesday.
Seven men were killed and 13 others were injured when the minibus they were travelling in rammed into a truck that had parked on the road after another minor accident. The driver of the minibus was among those who died on the spot.
The deceased and the injured were employees of Assent — Al Shafar Steel Engineering LLC in Dubai Industrial Park. The employees were on their way to the office from their homes in Sharjah. They were a mix of young and senior executives with the company.
“It’s our very big loss ... We are all still shocked and sad,” a senior director from the company told Gulf News on Wednesday.
Another staff member said the victims were just a few kilometres away from their office when the accident took place. He said it was another employee, who was coming to office in his car, who identified the company’s bus and informed the office.
“Everybody here is shocked and upset … All senior officials are busy handling the paperwork and coordinating with the families.”
However, the management refrained from issuing any statement, saying that the case is still under investigation.
Neither the company nor the police released the details of the deceased.
Gulf News had reported the identities of two of the deceased — Hozefa Zohar Bandukwala, head of procurement with the company, and Evin Kumar, a mechanical engineer who worked as a quantity surveyor.
A former colleague identified a third Indian, Ganesh Polippilli, as another victim on Wednesday.
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Ganesh Polippilli |
Ganesh, in his early 30s from Andhra Pradesh, was a draughtsman with the company, said Banu Kumar, who had worked with Ganesh and Chakra Dhar, one of the injured.
“All three of us had stayed together for some months when we were with our previous company. We all left that company just six months back. They both joined this company and, luckily or unluckily, I joined another company.”
Banu Kumar said he had made frantic calls to several people till late at night to know details about his friends after he heard it was their bus that had met with the accident. “Finally I got to know Chakra had escaped with injuries and Ganesh is no more.”
He said Ganesh is survived by his young wife and a seven-year-old son. “His was an early marriage … His family is back home. The company has already informed them about his death.”
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Hozefa Bandukwala |
Bandukwala was also a young father, according to his eldest brother, Murtuza Bandukwala, who flew in from Mumbai on Tuesday night after cutting short his vacation with his family on hearing the tragic news of his brother’s death.
“Hozefa was the youngest of we three brothers … He was just 31 … His daughter is just two-and-a-half-years-old. I did not meet his wife yet [after the accident] … I don’t know how to console her and my old parents,” the heart-broken brother said, his voice choked with grief.
The Bandukwala joint family, comprising the elderly parents and families of their three sons, lives together in an apartment in Al Nahda. Hozefa’s in-laws also live in Dubai. The family is planning to lay him to to rest in Dubai.
Previous escape
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Evin Kumar |
Evin Kumar, 28, from Kerala, who had a miraculous escape in another major car crash four years back, was not so lucky when he met with the accident on Tuesday. Evin, who was a bachelor, had survived with injuries to his head and hands when the front side of the car, in which he was travelling with his cousin, was crushed in the previous accident in Kumarakom in Kerala in early 2012.
“I know I’m lucky ... missed the quicksand ... that’s how lucky I am,” Evin had posted on Facebook along with photos of the mangled car and his injured hand.
His friends in Dubai lamented that luck was not in his favour this time.
