Police to open new Rescue Department branches

Dubai: Dubai Police Hard Task Force at the Rescue Department will open two new branches at Dubai International Financial Centre and the Police Academy before the end of the year, said Major Juma Ahmad Bin Darwish, Director of the Rescue Department at Dubai Police.

"Urban development of the city and the increase in population naturally leads to an increase of situations where the rescue department is needed, especially the Hard Task Force which handles situations such as the collapse of buildings and saving people in constricted areas.

The new branches will hopefully cover these new areas." said Captain Mohammad Al Reyaysa, Head of Hard Task Force at the Rescue Department at Dubai Police.

Other locations

The Land Rescue Department branches at Dubai Police are located in six other locations such as police stations in Bur Dubai, Dubai Police Headquarters, Jebel Ali, Al Figgi, Al Hibab and Hatta.

Last month the Hard Task Force at the Rescue Department handled two cases of labourers being stuck in a sand avalanche at construction sites.

The first such accident took place on September 12 at the Atlantis Hotel and resulted in two casualties, while the other accident took place on September 20 in Al Qusais and resulted in three casualties.

"Although there isn't an increase of these kinds of accidents, but we do receive some accidents that can be avoided if more precautionary measures were taken at construction sites.

"Sadly the workers or the construction company sometimes forget to install strict precautionary measures to avoid such accidents," said Captain Al Reyaysa.

Accidents

The Police Rescue Department handled 298 cases of accidents in the first nine months of 2010, in comparison to the full year of 2009 where the rescue department handled 377 cases.

The 298 accidents in 2010 resulted in 318 casualties comprising simple and severe casualties and 68 fatalities, while the 377 accidents in 2009 resulted in 429 casualties and 64 fatalities.