Monday 18 / November / 2024
Latest: Teen caused horror crash in Oman
Muscat: Two police officers and three others died after an alleged drunk driver ploughed his car into them in the early hours of yesterday at SQU Street in Al Khoudh, Muscat.
Two delivery drivers from a local fast food restaurant and the driver’s passenger were also killed in the horrific crash.
Read here: Five die in horror crash in Oman
The driver, who is facing charges of drunken driving, survived and is in a stable condition in hospital, according to a Royal Oman Police (ROP) spokesman.
One of the Indian delivery drivers had announced his engagement last week and was planning his wedding. The other Indian victim has two young daughters.
The accident happened early Sunday morning around 01:30 in Al Khoud.
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According to a senior official from the ROP, a minor accident took place in Al Khoud, where the driver left the accident scene.
“After contacting him, he came back driving fast, which resulted in another accident claiming the lives of two expatriates, two police officers and the life of a co-passenger in the car. Investigations are still underway,” the official said, adding that the Omani national who drove the car is hospitalised with serious injuries.
“The driver was drunk,” the ROP spokesman added.
Traffic Law
Article 50 of Oman’s Traffic Law states that, driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is punishable by imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine of up to OMR500.
The law adds that if the DUI results in an injury or death, it is punishable by imprisonment between one and five years.
The Indian victims have been identified as Shanavas Attumpuram and Sainul Abdeen from the south Indian state of Kerala.
An official from the food outlet where they worked said that the tragedy happened when Sainul was on his way to deliver food at around 1am on Sunday.
“On his way, reportedly he met a minor accident, lost control of the vehicle and fell. As he lost the stored beverages in the accident, he called back to the outlet for replacements. Meanwhile, Shanavas, who had come to the outlet to do some extra work after his office hours, voluntarily, said that he would go to help Sainul and went with the stock. By that time, police had come to the accident spot.
“While all four were sorting out the problem, reportedly a car driven by a national rammed into them and killed them all,” the official added.
Shanavas and Sainul had been working with the food outlet for the last four years.
Talking to the Times of Oman from India, Ashraf PG, the brother-in-law of Shanavas, said that his loss is irreparable and they are still in shock.
“He was a big support for our family. Anytime, any need, he never used to say no. “Shanavas had lost his mother when he was five. As his father had married another woman and had left them in lurch, he had to take care of his two sisters. I have not seen him showing any kind of disinterest in sisters’ needs even now,” Ashraf said.
“Shanavas’ engagement was done last week. He was supposed to come next month to fix the wedding date. His sisters’ were preparing for the wedding. But this tragedy has happened. Both of them are totally devastated,” Ashraf added.
Meanwhile, Sainul’s relative Abdul Aziz said that Sainul’s family is totally devastated after hearing the accident news.
Sainul is survived by two girls aged 12 and 9 and his wife. He had just built a house with a loan from a bank. The loan is pending. His wife Jameela Sainul is not employed and the children are school going,” Abdul Aziz added.
Meanwhile, social workers Ummar Eramangalam and Vidyan Sudevan Panicker, are coordinating to repatriate the victims’ bodies as soon as possible.
Repatriate the bodies
“We have done the paperwork required to repatriate the bodies. We hope it may happen tomorrow itself,” a social worker said.
According to the latest report issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information, a significant drop of 37 per cent in road accidents was registered in the first half of this year (2,100) compared to the same period last year (3,334).
The report reveals that total deaths rose by 8.4 per cent to 336 from 310 while injuries from accidents fell by 23.3 per cent to 1,410 from 1,838 during this period.
June recorded 72 deaths and 287 injuries compared to 54 deaths and 220 injuries in May and 50 deaths and 223 injuries in April.
The report noted that the number of Omanis killed in accidents increased by 4.3 per cent to 219 in H1 of 2016 compared to 210 in the same period of 2015.
Of the 219 killed, 184 were men and the rest were women. The number of citizens getting injured till the end of June this year dropped by 23.6 per cent to 1,071 from 1,402 during the same period last year. Also, 117 expatriates lost their lives to accidents in the first half of 2016 compared to 100 over the same period last year, a rise of 17 per cent.
