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Man goes swimming with friends, drowns in Umm Al Quwain creek

Umm Al Quwain - Three of his friends managed to swim to the beach amid high waves and heavy winds.

An Asian man, in his twenties, drowned in the Umm Al Quwain creek on Friday (March 8) night.
Colonel Mohammed Bu Haroun, chief of the city police station, UAQ police, said that a national ambulance, rescue teams and paramedics were dispatched to the reported site when alerted about the mishap.
Police investigations show that the victim had been swimming off the beach along with three of his friends, he added.
All three of the friends managed to swim to the beach while the victim failed to do so due to the strong wind, high waves, and rough sea.
The victim had died before the rescue teams reached the site.
The trio tried hard to get hold of their friend, but he was pulled down deep into the sea, he explained.
The three friends alerted the UAQ police about the accident as soon as they swam back to the beach.
The city police station, in collaboration with the creek security point and coast guards scanned the entire beach for a long time, but could not locate the drowned youth, Colonel Bu Haroun stated.
Later on, and with the help of some divers from the UAE rescue team, the corpse of the young man was located. He was fished out and then shifted to the morgue of the UAQ hospital for burial by relatives as due.
Col Bu Haroun urged all the beach goers to never go swimming during the night.
"Swimming at that time with low visibility makes it harder to extend help, particularly when the sea is rough."
Swimmers are also advised to avoid all the spots with high waves and strong currents, he underlined.
"Warning sign boards are already there, but some people, mostly young men turn blind eyes to such life-saving directives, he asserted.
ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com