‘I can't believe he is not going to come back,' mother laments
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
Dubai: Police have confirmed that the 17-year-old Pakistani boy, Ammar Atiuddin, who went missing on Monday, was found dead of apparent drowning in Dubai Creek on Wednesday morning.
According to the police, a Dubai Municipality worker found the body.
The family identified the teenager's body through pictures shown to them by the police.
Speaking to Gulf News, the distraught father Atiuddin Moinuddin said that he is waiting to see the body, which he intends to take back to Pakistan as soon as all formalities are completed.
"I saw the pictures of the body at the police station and immediately I recognised my boy, the clothes he was wearing the day he disappeared and he shoes are still on his body. I just don't understand how he reached the creek and why he went there," said Moinuddin, choking back tears.
He said his son was never in any trouble.
"He was a lovely boy, dearest among all my children and I never had any argument with him. He just went out as he normally does and never came back. Me and my family have decided to leave Dubai as soon as the police hand over the body of my son," added, Moinuddin.
The grieving father refuses to believe that his son died from drowning.
"From what I saw in the pictures there is no damage to the body and ... [it] doesn't look like it was in water for three days."
A police source said that the boy might have slipped and drowned, but said it was too early to draw any conclusions. The boy's body has been taken to the Forensic Evidence Department for postmortem to determine the cause and time of death.
Errand
His mother was inconsolable. "I can't believe he is not going to come back. We haven't caused any harm to anyone, the boy hasn't caused any harm to anyone, why is this happening to us," she said.
Atiuddin has been on a visit to Dubai since April 27 along with his mother and younger brother. He had gone on an errand at 11.30am on Monday and never returned. The family, which hails from Karachi, lives in the Gold Souq area, where Moinuddin's diamond trading offices are also located.
Moinuddin had filed a missing person's report at the Naif Police Station on Monday.
