Dubai Emirates Road crash: Six Indian expats and a Sri Lankan among 7 killed

Dubai: Six Indian expats and one Sri Lankan were among the seven workers killed in Sunday's deadly minibus crash on Emirates Road in Dubai, the company that employed the victims has confirmed to Gulf News.

Four of the nine injured remain in hospital, company sources said.

The painstaking process of identifying the deceased is continuing, complicated by the severity of injuries that have disfigured some of the bodies beyond easy recognition.

All the victims were employees of a technical services company, returning to their accommodation in Sharjah after a day's work at a construction site in Dubai when the accident occurred midday on Sunday.

The minibus, carrying 17 people including the driver, rammed into a truck that had stalled in the middle of Emirates Road close to the Dubai-Sharjah border, the company sources said.

According to the company, the victims were seated on the right side of the minibus: the side that bore the full brunt of the impact. The force of the collision proved fatal for those passengers while others onboard survived with varying degrees of injury.

Of the nine people injured in the crash, five have since been discharged from hospital. The remaining four are still receiving treatment. Three are Indian nationals and one is from Nepal.

The process of formally identifying all seven deceased is still under way, the company said, with authorities and colleagues facing the grim challenge that some bodies were so severely injured in the impact that identification has become difficult.

The company said it is closely coordinating with authorities to ensure the process moves forward as swiftly as possible.

This follows confirmation by the Indian Consulate in Dubai on Monday evening that several Indian workers were among those killed.

As first reported by Gulf News, the mission said its officials had visited the hospital, met the injured Indian nationals, and were working with local authorities to provide all possible assistance to the victims and their families.

The company said it has reached out to the families of both the deceased and the injured and has offered all possible support during what it described as an extremely difficult time.

It added that it continues to work in full cooperation with Dubai Police, medical teams, and the consulates of the countries involved.

Dubai Police earlier said that preliminary investigations indicate the truck had stopped suddenly in the middle of Emirates Road due to a technical malfunction, and that the minibus driver failed to maintain a safe distance and collided with it from behind.

The accident left the minibus and truck both badly damaged in the collision.

Dubai Police has also warned motorists of the serious dangers of stopping in the middle of the road due to a vehicle breakdown, a fuel shortage, or a tyre failure, stressing that such a violation carries a fine of Dh1,000 and six traffic points under the Federal Traffic Law.