Jobless Arab visitor tries to commit suicide

Dubai: After gruelling four-hour negotiations, a team from Dubai Police and Civil Defence on Tuesday thwarted a 30-year-old Arab's suicide attempt.

The four-hour suicide drama began at about 1pm yesterday at a six-storey, newly constructed building opposite Dubai Museum and next to the Arabian Courtyard hotel in Bur Dubai.

Colonel Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Deputy Director of the Dubai Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said the man, a Syrian, had been fired from his job at a company in Al Musaffah, Abu Dhabi, and that his residency had been cancelled.

He said the man came to Dubai, failed to get a job, and, penniless, was forced to sleep in parks.

Captain Saeed Bin Dalmook of the Police Crises and Disasters Management Department, who negotiated with the man and brought him down safely said: "I tried to get to the root of the problem that led him to attempt suicide. He told me he was penniless and was unable to send money home to his sick mother. I negotiated with him and was able to convince him otherwise."

Captain Bin Dalmook told Gulf News that the man also insisted on meeting top Dubai officials to seek help from them directly.

The Arab was later whisked away by police for further interrogation amid cheers from onlookers, who had watched the nail-biting rescue effort as it unfolded.

An eyewitness said that he had seen the Arab roaming in the vicinity from 10am before deciding to climb the building at 1pm.

Chipuru Bojanna, an Indian cardboard box collector who visits the area every other day, said that he had spotted the young man, with long hair, dressed neatly in a black shirt and jeans and sporting a fancy belt, sitting on the pavement of the parking space located just behind the building.

"What brought my attention to him was the manner in which he was muttering to himself. I kept looking at him wondering whether to approach and enquire what his problem was," said Bojanna. "But he stood up and walked away when he saw me approach him."

Patiram, a worker in the building, was having lunch with his colleagues when he saw the Arab enter the building.

He said: "Each day we get many prospective tenants who want to check out the apartments. I counted him as one of them. After 15 minutes I got up and looked up only to find the Arab standing on the edge of the terrace and saying something in Arabic.

"I called out to him and asked him to come down from the building. But he was in no mood to listen. I immediately got in touch with our foreman who went up to the terrace and tried to get him come down.

"He was just threatening to jump off the building if anyone got near him. The police were called in by our engineer," he said.

Colonel Al Mansouri said the man will be referred to the Public Prosecution on charges of attempted suicide.