Two sisters drown after family visit near Ibri

Muscat: Two Omani sisters have died after a family trip ended in a double drowning, police have confirmed.
The young women, named Ghazwa and Hajir Al Saedi, aged 19 and 27, drowned in an overflowing pond early on Thursday morning, according to officials. While the elder sister had completed her college education last year, the younger had a year of her studies left.
The pond is in Al Ghor, in the Wilayat Ibri. The women were on a family vacation, and were rushed to Al Razi health centre in Rustaq, following their struggle in the water.
The incident happened at 9am on Thursday and the women were pronounced dead at 11am by emergency room doctors Muhammed Ahmed Uthman and Eman Billah Al Nabii.
“Hajir first stepped into a pond area fed by Wadi Bani Khalid”, said Director Jumaa Abdullah Al Shukaili of Al Razi health centre in Rustaq, “The mud at the bottom of the pond (called a gabaah) acted like quicksand and trapped her. When Ghazwa tried to save her sister, she was trapped in turn. The younger sisters, around eight to 10 years old, saw them and ran for their parents. ”
The sisters remained in the water for about an hour, before family members got wind of what had happened.
Once they’d arrived at the scene, they were quick to call on the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA), who’d been informed about their presence at pond, and rushed to immediately dispatch emergency services to Al Ghor.
According to health centre director Jumaa Abdullah Al Shukaili, the girls were brought in by their uncle and family members, including their father, Saif, in their private vehicles. It was Al Shukaili – who knew the family well – who physically carried the girls from the cars and rushed them to the emergency room.
“I was there when they arrived at the hospital. It was quite clear that they had been dead for a while. It was heartbreaking for us all.” Rustaq police were the first to arrive at the hospital to enquire about the state of the girls, with the Batinah region’s Attorney General following soon afterwards.
“Although the incident took place in the Dhahirah Governorate, they came to Rustaq, which is in Al Batinah, because of easy road access between Al Ghor and here,” added Ahmed Ba Zikr, another doctor at the centre.
According to statistics from the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA), there were 286 drowning incidents in 2016, compared to 113 in 2015, showing a dramatic increase. In 2014, 150 drowning incidents were recorded, which is still relatively low when compared to 2016.