Bodies of four among six missing in Wadi Bani Khalid flash flood found

Energy Saturday 25/May/2019 19:35 PM
By: Times News Service
Bodies of four among six missing in Wadi Bani Khalid flash flood found

Muscat: Four bodies have now been recovered from a flooded wadi after an Indian family of six was swept away in flash floods.
The bodies recovered by the authorities were of two adult women, a man and a child.
Sardar Fazal Ahmed, an Indian expatriate who works as a pharmacist in Ibra, lost six family members during the flash floods in Wadi Bani Khalid on Saturday, May 18, 2019.
He identified the bodies to be of his parents – Khan Khairullah Sattar and Shabana Begum, his wife Arshi Khan, and his four-year-old daughter, Sidra Khan.
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The remaining two missing family members are his newborn infant son Nooh Khan and two-year-old son Zaid Khan.
Sardar’s friend said that a funeral service was held on Friday for the bodies recovered last week.
Video: Expat dad whose entire family was swept away in flash flood speaks
“Sardar identified the bodies to be of his father, mother, wife and daughter. His two brothers who were flying from India to Oman were here for the funeral that took place on Friday. Although the funeral was planned to take place at 9 am due to some paperwork and other formalities it was pushed until 3:30 pm. The bodies were then buried at Al Amerat Public Cemetery,” the friend said.
The first body recovered by the authorities was on May 21, three days after it was swept away by flash floods in Wadi Bani Khalid. The remains recovered were of one adult female, which were then identified by Sardar as those of his mother, Shabana Begum.
Oman’s Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA), along with the Royal Oman Police (ROP) and the rescue teams continued the search for the remaining missing family members and found the second body on May 22. The body was identified by Sardar as of his wife, Arshi Khan.
Next day, May 23, the ROP announced that the search for the family of Sardar resulted in the discovery of two more bodies along Wadi Bani Khalid which Sardar identified as that of his father, Khan Khairullah Sattar, and daughter Sidra Khan.
According to a statement by the police, “The search efforts for the missing Asian family have so far succeeded in discovering the remains of four out of the six missing people. Two of the deceased have been identified, while the two others are currently being verified.
“The search teams are still looking for the last two missing people,” the statement added.
A PACDA spokesman said efforts are still continuing to find the rest of the family.