Thousands pay tribute to family members killed in Oman crash

Al Ain: Gloom descended on the oasis town of Al Ain as the seven members of the Al Kaabi family who died in a road accident in Oman were laid to rest.

Thousands of people, both Emiratis and expatriates, mourned the dead and paid condolences to the family, as they packed Al Hazza mosque in Al Ain for the funeral prayers, before attending the burial at Al Foah Graveyard in huge numbers.

The victims, a father and his six children, whose deaths have rocked the nation, were laid to rest after touching funeral prayers.

Hundreds packed into Al Hazza mosque, in the neighbourhood where the family lived, to pay tribute to the accident victims.

They joined weeping family members, crippled by grief.

After Asr prayers, the coffins were taken to the graveyard — followed by hundreds more devastated residents who spoke of how the sudden loss had devastated their community.

Friends and neighbours of the family told Gulf News people in the area were deeply shocked by the tragedy and that the family members who died will be sorely missed.

Saif Al Kabbi, 20, a student, who told Gulf News he was also a relative of the family, lives in the neighbourhood.

He said: “I am so shocked by this, it is hard to take in.”

Mohammad Eisa Al Jaberi, also a neighbour of the family, paid tribute to the eldest son killed in the crash, Mohammad Al Kaabi — a pilot with Etihad Airways.

He said: “Mohammad joined the profession about two years ago, everyone had such high hopes for him.

“He was very popular, he had many friends in the neighbourhood, It’s terrible.”

The family have two homes, one in Al Ain and one in Abu Dhabi.

Neighbours told how they came to Al Ain on weekends and had recently built their home next to the mosque.

One said: “They were really happy here, they had not long ago built their house.

“This loss is a real loss to Al Ain.”

Filipina housemaids of the family, who worked with them for many years, are so devastated by the deaths they are returning home, unable to work for another family in the UAE.

Ashraf Bepari, 33, a Bangladeshi cook who had just been hired by the family, said: “The maids loved the family so much, they were so kind and good-hearted, they will never be able to work for anyone else here.

“They were so attached to them that they can’t get over their grief.”

In Salalah, scores of Emiratis and Omanis descended on the hospital on hearing of the accident. Hundreds gathered to pray, gather in grief and offer condolences at the Royal Hospital Salalah.