Sharjah - Rescue teams were dispatched to their location in a matter of minutes.
Published: Mon 17 Feb 2020, 1:32 PM
Last updated: Tue 18 Feb 2020, 7:02 PM
An Arab couple's plan to climb the Khor Fakkan mountain to celebrate Valentine's Day on its peak went awry after they got exhausted and stranded while scaling it.
It took a Herculean effort by the Sharjah Police and rescue mission of the Abu Dhabi Police to airlift and save the couple in the nick of time.
The rescued wife said she and her husband decided to celebrate Valentine's Day in a novel and adventurous way. They climbed the Khor Fakkan mountain, carrying food and water. The couple was climbing a mountain for "the first time and never thought it was risky". They didn't have the necessary mountaineering tools.
"We started at 10.30am and enquired from workers near the mountain if it was easy to scale it and they said 'yes'," the woman added. She said climbing took a lot of time and they felt tired and couldn't stand on their feet.
They then decided to call the police but failed to get any signal. By a stroke of luck, the couple met another climber who helped them call the police.
The Sharjah Police reached the site in no time, but couldn't reach the couple as they were on a rocky terrain. They called the rescue mission of the Abu Dhabi Police who lifted the two with helicopter. "We were provided water and food and rushed to hospital. Without the quick response of the police, we would have been dead," the couple said.
A Sharjah Police official said that they received a call at the operations room about a couple stuck on the mountain of Khor Fakkan. The police rushed to the area, but the terrain was unreachable so the rescue mission of Abu Dhabi Police was called who airlifted them, he pointed out.