Dubai, January 24: Seven people were killed and 14 were injured, three of them seriously, in two road accidents in the Abu Dhabi emirate on Sunday.
In the most tragic accident of the day, five people were killed and three were injured seriously when the mini-bus they were travelling in collided with a truck at 6 in the morning, sources and relatives said.
The bus was carrying eight workers of Dubai Emirates Shooting Equipment Company to the military camp when it collided with the truck in Al Fayah area near Shama. The dead included two Egyptians, one Syrian, an Indian and a Pakistani and the bodies are kept at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City Hospital.
The dead included the driver of the bus, Kalakattil Usman, who belonged to the Palakkad district of Kerala.
The three seriously injured, Shakeer, Zubair and Shankar also from Kerala were admitted to Mafraq Hospital. The injured said all of them were sleeping in the back seat and were woken up by the impact. Those killed were seated in the front.
In a second major accident two people were killed and 11 others injured in a pile-up of 18 vehicles on the Abu Dhabi-Ghuwaifat Highway.
According to the General Headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Police, in five other road accidents in the emirate four people were injured. All the injured, with moderate to severe injuries, were rushed to Mafraq and nearby hospitals.
The Traffic and Patrols Department of Abu Dhabi Police said the accidents occurred due to dense fog which reduced the visibility significantly. The department also said most of the accidents occurred on external highways.
Brigadier Hussein Ahmed Al Harthy, Director of Traffic and Patrols Department of Abu Dhabi Police, said most of the accidents were the result of the carelessness of the drivers and low visibility.
–Agencies–