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Emirati family of 7 die in road crash

An Emirati family of seven and two Omanis were killed in a horrific accident near Salalah in the Dhofar governorate of Oman on Monday.

Seven other people were also injured in the three-vehicle pile-up, including a five-year-old child. They were all rushed to the Sultan Qaboos Hospital in Dhofar.

The Emirati victims, who are from Al Ain, have been identifed as Saif Abdullah Alhaj Al Kaabi, his two sons Mohammed and Ahmed, and four daughters Fatima, Afra, Hamda and Sara.

Thefatal accident took place in the afternoon when two vehicles, coming from different directions, crashed into a truck on the main road near Al Mughsayl Blowholes in eastern Salalah, according to sources in the Royal Oman Police.

According the source, the devastating crash occurred when the driver of a truck heading towards Salalah saw another four-wheeler carrying eight passengers entering the road. Before the stunned driver could react and avert a collision, his car rammed into the oncoming vehicle.

In a chain reaction, another vehicle, carrying six passengers, coming from the opposite direction collided with the two vehicles. The impact was such that their car was pushed out of the road, according the Oman News Agency.

The tragic accident takes place just four days after KT reported the death of nine members of two families, including four children, from Mattannur in Kannur district and Kuttippuram in Malappuram district in north Kerala who were killed in Haima, Oman.

The nine died when the Toyota car in which they were travelling from Salalah collided with a Hummer and was torn to pieces by the impact of the colision. Two Omani nationals in the Hummer were also reportedly killed.

The two families had gone to Salalah to celebrate Eid festival. According to the Times of Oman, “the nine-day long Eid Al Fitr holidays claimed 55 lives on Oman’s roads this year, while the toll was 28 last year. Between August 15 and August 24, road accidents claimed 55 lives in Oman and caused injuries to 295 people, a data released by the Royal Oman Police’s Traffic department revealed.

“The largest number of deaths occurred in the Dhofar governorate, where 19 people died on the roads near Haim,” said the data.

Khalifa orders plane to bring bodies


abu dhabi — The President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has ordered the authorities to send a special plane to bring the bodies of the seven-member Emirati family who died in the tragic accident in Oman.

patrick@khaleejtimes.com