Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Yet another accident on the Salalah Road dominated headlines in the Sultanate in the past few days. Here are Times of Oman's top five stories with our weekly News Rewind:
The economic downturn may have resulted in cost cutting and lay offs, but Indra Mani Pandey, ambassador of India to Oman, told the Times of Oman that there has been "no mass exodus" of Indian expats from the country. Rather, there was a net increase in the Indian population in Oman.
Three people — an Emirati mother and son, and a Saudi grandmother — were killed in a horrific car crash near Qarn Al Alam in Adam, involving three vehicles. According to the Royal Oman Police, 12 more were injured in incident, which also saw two of the vehicles burst into flames.
An investigation later revealed that the crash was caused by an overtaking error on the road. "According to our investigation, the Emirati car overtook a truck and was taken by surprise from the oncoming Saudi car, and they collided head on," a ROP spokesman said.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications also revealed on Wednesday night that Muscat International Airport's new passenger terminal is 97 per cent complete. However, an opening date for the airport was not announced.
And finally, the Central Bank Oman launched a mobile payment clearing and switching (MpClear) system, to enhance the payment infrastructure in the country — becoming the first country in the GCC to implement such a system. This system will provide a safe and secure fund transfer mechanism through mobile phones by just using a phone number to complete payment transfers instantly.
