Five killed, 277 injured in Ghantoot accident
Road accident kills five, injures 277 in UAE
Five commuters were killed and 277 injured in a horrific 200-vehicle pileup between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the early hours of Tuesday, according a police statement issued to official news agency WAM.
Police blamed poor visibility due to fog and careless driving to be the cause of the accident.
130 injured were taken to Al Mafrak Hospital in Abu Dhabi hospital. Out of these ten were reported to be critical, 20 sustained moderate injuries and 100 mild injuries, said officials.
Al Rahba hospital in the capital received four critically injured victims, another 32 sustained moderate injuries and 100 mild injuries. One critically injured patient was sent to Dubai, according to police.
Earlier reports said eight people have died and 141 others have been injured in the accident between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the early hours of Tuesday, quoting emergency workers.
The vehicles smashed into each other in thick fog at around 6.45 am on the Dubai-bound side of Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Road, said eyewitnesses and emergency workers.
Emergency workers said two major pileups actually occurred on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai freeway. The first one took place near Ghantoot, involving over 50 cars.
The second one was near Samha, just before Ghantoot.
As of 1pm on Tuesday, a total of 141 injuries were reported, of which 39 were major injuries and 102 minor. The injured were taken to Rashid Hospital in Dubai and Al Mafrak Hospital and Khaleefa Hospital in Abu Dhabi.
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Ninety-two cars caught fire in the smash-ups, said Khalifa Al Darrai, chief executive of the ambulance service centre in Dubai.
“I have never witnessed an accident of this scale before. Apparently, there was thick fog that led to the collisions.
“Patients were lying on the road. Thankfully, they had abandoned their cars or else the death toll would have risen significantly,'' Al Darrai told XPRESS by phone.
“We sent people who suffered serious to minor injuries to two hospitals.''
The centre sent over a dozen ambulances, three first response cars and two disaster cars to the accident site.
“Two doctors and nurses from the Rashid Trauma Centre have been sent in a police helicopter to the site. In addition to this there are many ambulances and police rescue teams that have been sent from Abu Dhabi,'' said Al Darrai.
It will take time before the extent of the incident can be assessed, said Al Darrai.
“Now we are clearing off the burnt cars from the road and trying to bring the situation under control.''
An eyewitness said the stretch of highway near Ghantoot looked like a “disaster area'', because of the huge number of vehicles that went up in smoke.
In Dubai, six people have been rushed to Rashid trauma centre.
“It is a disaster because all the patients were brought in a critical condition and are undergoing surgery at this moment,'' said a doctor at the centre.
An employee of Al Nisr Group making his way towards Dubai in the morning said, “You could just hear them (cars) crash. I couldn't see anything in front of me because of the dense fog.''
The accident scene, located approximately 60 kilometers outside the capital, is nearby the Al Ghantoot area.
Traffic is being diverted back to Abu Dhabi through an exit close to the scene along the highway.
The other side of the road is clear, it has been reported.
A fuel leak may have triggered a chain reaction that set more than 92 cars on fire, according to witnesses.
Jassim Al Nuaimi, who drove before 7.30am on the other side of the road from Khalifa City A to Abu Dhabi, told XPRESS he had difficulty stopping his car, and said the slippery road conditions may have worsened the accident.
“I was driving at 40kph and the outside temperature was about 16 degree C. I slammed on the breaks but my car still slid three car lengths,'' said Al Nuaimi.
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