Dubai: A day after a deadly minibus-crash killed eight people and injured six others in Dubai, the victims were identified on Tuesday. All the victims were their 20s and 30s and worked as cleaners with a private security firm in Dubai.
Early Monday morning, the minibus carrying 14 people rammed into a parked truck on Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, resulting in the death of a Pakistani driver and seven passengers, including six Nepalese and one Indian. The six injured – five Indians and a Bangladeshi - are being treated at Rashid Hospital.
Nepalese Ambassador Krishna Prasad Dhakal confirmed to Gulf News on Tuesday that six of the deceased were Nepalese. They were identified as Dhan Bahadur Sakatyal, Narayan Prasad Pokhrel, Krishna Bahadur Pun Magar, Ramesh Chaudhary, Nayaram Saud and Dipak Bishokarma. They were aged between 30 and 35 and worked with the First Security Group.
“It was a very sad incident and it claimed so many lives. The Embassy of Nepal is in touch with the concerned authorities and the company. We do believe they will extend all cooperation to help repatriate the bodies to their families back in Nepal at the earliest,” the ambassador said.
Meanwhile, Jitender Singh Negi, Consul (Consular and Labour) at the Indian Consulate, said one of the victims who died hailed from India and has been identified as Gnansekaran Bose. “He was 1995-born and was a cleaner. The injured are Hariharasundar Chandrashekar, Ranjit Rajamanikan, Ajit Kumar Arumugaval, Sagar Gonti and Prabhakaran Marimathu”. They are in their 20s.
Negi said, “Gonti is still in the ICU at Rashid Hospital. The condition of the others is stable. Three of them are at the emergency ward and one in the regular ward. We were able to speak to one of them (Ranjit) today and he wanted us to wait till he recovered before we informed his family.”
The official said it would take a couple of days for the forensic report and death certificate of the deceased to be issued, following which the body would be flown to his hometown in Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, the driver of the minibus was identified as Sahib Rahman, 25, from Pakistan.
Speaking to Gulf News, Rahman’s paternal uncle Gul Marjan, 50, said Rahman’s aged parents back home had not yet been informed about the tragedy as it would shatter them.
“We have to break the news slowly. He was the sole breadwinner of his family consisting of aged parents, wife, daughter and five younger siblings. He was the only son for his parents. The rest of the siblings are all sisters. He was sending money for their education. I don’t know what will happen to the family now. I am so sad and shocked,” he said.
Relatives and friends were now waiting for the paperwork to be completed for his body to be repatriated to Peshawar in Pakistan.
