Hotel lightning pole, not crane crashed on stormy weekend

Dubai - Causes behind the collapse and the cost of damages are still under investigation

Results of investigations by Dubai Municipality showed that a large structure supporting a lightning pole, not a crane, crashed on Shaikh Zayed Road on the weekend.
Redha Salman, Director of Health and Safety Department and Head of Emergency and Crisis Team at Dubai Municipality, confirmed to Khaleej Times that 40m of a 53m-long metal structure collapsed due to strong winds on Friday.
"The structure fell and split into three pieces: one fell onto the service road, another fell by the Shaikh Zayed Road while the bigger part fell at the hotel's entrance," he said.
Causes behind the collapse and the cost of damages are still under investigation, and are expected to be revealed next week.
Dubai Civil Defence had earlier attributed the crash to a construction crane that destroyed four cars at the twin tower building of Nassima Royal Hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road. However, Salman said there was no construction going on at the time that the crash happened, and thus, no crane was involved in the accident.
"The initial reports came from the civil defense and were soon escalated and widely shared on social media, but when we went to the site, results were different," he noted.
The affected location has been evacuated and shut down for people's safety as further investigation continues.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com 

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