Ras Al Khaimah: A five-year-old Emirati boy died 51 days after being admitted to Al Qassimi hospital ICU following a drowning incident at Ras Al Khaimah beach.
On April 4, Zaid Saeed Al Sheihi was allegedly pulled from the seawater in Ras Al Khaimah. But on Tuesday morning, after 51 days, he lost his battle for life. The incident occurred on April 4 around 9am.
The devastated family of the Emirati boy called on authorities to establish a permanent rescue unit at the beach to save lives of people. Several drowning incidents have been recorded in the same place.
His uncle, Mohammad Ahmad Al Sheihi, told Gulf News that on the day of the tragedy, the mother took her children along their housemaid to the beach.
The boy entered the sea where he was pulled in by the waves. The mother and the housemaid rushed in quickly and pulled him out water. But the mother and son were washed away by seawater. The mother was later rescued by other beachgoers but they failed to rescue the boy.
Ras Al Khaimah police meanwhile received information that the child had drowned in the sea beach behind the Islamic Institute. The marine rescue unit was immediately pressed into service and a search-and-rescue operation was initiated.
First person
A first assistant at the Civil Defence Department in Ras Al Khaimah, Adel Hanhoun, who rescued the boy, told Gulf News that he crossed three beaches via a water bike to reach the place of the incident after he heard an emergency call on the wireless. Hanhoun was carrying out maintenance on a water-fire bike, in the waters of the creek behind Julfar Towers, when he heard the report.
He pinpointed the place despite the distance from his location. He immediately set off on his water bike from the Ras Al Khaimah Creek to Al Mairid and then to the Sea of Ras Al Khaimah Corniche, passing through the Institute’s sea.
Upon his arrival at the place, Hanhoun saw ambulances and rescue vehicles, police patrols, and a large number of people near the beach searching for the child. he joined in the search until he found the child floating at a distance of 200 metres from the beach. The boy was moved to Al Qassimi hospital in Sharjah in a critical condition.
Hanhoun explained that the child swallowed a lot of water after being drowned. His health was deteriorating so fast that some believed that he had died. But some water came out from his lungs after he responded to artificial respiration. The boy was moved to Al Qassimi hospital in Sharjah in a critical condition.
Hanhoun advised all families not to be distracted while they are on the beach with children, and not to let them swim alone, because the waves and currents may pull them suddenly inland, which may lead to their drowning. The body of the boy was buried in Ras Al Khaimah on Tuesday.
