Two killed, 19 injured in separate traffic accidents across country

Sharjah/Dubai/Ras Al Khaimah: Two died and 19 were injured in four separate accidents across the UAE in the past couple of days.

In Ras Al Khaimah, a 20-year-old Emirati died and another suffered serious injuries in the Sha'am area.

The victim was driving his vehicle on Ghaleelah-Sha'am Road where he collided with another car driven by a 19-year-old.

Colonel Hassan Al Jeeda, Chief of the Traffic Section at the emirate's Traffic and Licensing Department, said that the deceased attempted to take the roundabout heading to the Sha'am area, but did not pay attention to the traffic flow.

The victim crashed his vehicle into the main electricity pylon that feeds the area of Sha'am and rebounded into the steel road barrier. As a result of the crash, Colonel Al Jeeda said the remote area of Sha'am suffered a two-hour blackout.

In Sharjah, a minibus driver was killed and all 14 people on board the vehicle were injured, some seriously, after the bus collided with a car at the Cultural Roundabout yesterday morning and caught fire.

The Operations Control Room at Sharjah Police received a call at 6.15am that the minibus had caught fire.

Civil Defence, Anjad patrols and the Rescue Unit at Sharjah Police rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire and transfer the injured to Al Qasimi Hospital and Kuwaiti Hospital.

Ten of the passengers suffered minor burns and two passengers serious burns. The latter are currently in the intensive care unit.

In Dubai, four suffered moderate to severe injuries in two separate accidents over the past two days. The first accident happened at Ras Al Khor street, in front of Dragon Mart, when a speeding car driven by a 23-year-old woman crashed into a truck. She was airlifted to hospital by Dubai Police. Due to the severity of the crash, the woman was trapped and the police rescue team had to use special equipment to cut off the vehicle's left door.

In a second accident in Al Qudra Street, a truck driver lost control while speeding and hit another pick-up truck. Two were severely injured and airlifted to hospital.