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A brush with death

AL AIN - A major disaster was averted in Al Ain yesterday when a lady driver had a close brush with death when she walked out of the mall, got into her car, absent-mindedly shifted the gear into reverse and gunned her motor.

The car took off like a bullet and slammed into the glass frontage of the Al Ain Mall branch of Jumbo Electronics shop.

Fortunately, the shop was under renovation and there were no shoppers inside or around the shop. Only the dumbfounded maintenance and painting workers narrowly escaped being harmed.

Eyewitnesses said that they heard the loud sound of the tyres turning on the asphalt followed by a big bang when the car hit the glass. The accident caused a huge damage to the front side, hood and lights of the sedan but the driver escaped unharmed.

The security and safety personnel of the shopping centre when alerted of the accident rushed to the site and cleared all the debris and broken glasses.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Bashar Tamimi, Al Ain Mall Director, confirmed that the shopping centre spares no efforts to maintain the safety and security of its customers.

"The centre is provided with state-of-the-art first-aid and fire-fighting equipment to meet such mishaps," he added.

Meanwhile, a major fire yesterday gutted parts of Al Safeer Shopping Centre in Al Jimi area, causing material damage. Eyewitnesses said that they saw heavy fumes rising from the building in the early hours of the day with the security personnel trying to control it. After receiving a telephone call informing them of the incident, the fire brigades rushed to the scene and immediately put everything under control. An official at the Civil Defence Department said that the cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained.