Eyewitness report

The following is an eye-witness account of the devastating 200-car pile up on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway on Tuesday morning, in which eight people were killed and 141 injured.

Ramy Dia, a 31-year old business development manager from Egypt, spoke exclusively to ArabianBusiness.com about seeing the crash site in the morning on his way to Abu Dhabi and in the afternoon when he was returning to Dubai.

In the morning, 8.15 am (0415 GMT) at the site:

"I left 6.45 am, 7.00 am and we passed Jebel Ali, and after we left Dubai, we noticed a fog coming."

"It started to get very dense, and then we started seeing ambulance, after ambulance, after ambulance. Then several fire-trucks and police cars also went past.

"After about twenty minutes, we saw a 50-car pile-up. We were driving around with total fog around us. Then we saw a second pile-up. It seems that there was one pile-up followed by another, then another.

"There were lot wrecked cars. I saw a body-bag. Some cars were flipped over. There are about 50 metres of glass on the road.

"I've never seen a pile-up this big."

In the afternoon, 3 pm at the site:

"We're at a sign which says 67 kilometers from Dubai. We're counting about 15 cars smashed up... 16... 17.... 18... 19..., not charred, smashed up from 40% upwards.

"We're about 63 kilometres from Dubai now. There are about two to three dozen charred cars, completely demolished. It looks like something out of Iraq, like when a bomb goes off.

"There are pick-up trucks, 4x4 cruisers. I'm surprised it's only eight people killed so far.

"People are shocked because of what has happened, they've stopped and are just looking.... the beautiful clean roads of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are scarred.

"There is a car which is completely charred, that is all I can tell. I cannot tell the brand, or if it's one car or two. All I can is that it was once white."

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READERS' COMMENTS

Crash
Posted by Jeff Samson, London, UK on Wednesday 12 March 2008 at 14:36 UAE time


This is tragic. Perhaps all people using the UAE's roads will finally learn to drive safely. This is very sad to see, but it is not surprising when one witnesses the immense stupidity of driving in the UAE.

Eyewitness report on 200 cars pile-up on Abu Dhabi - Dubai Road on 11.03.2008
Posted by MASHOOR, DUBAI, UAE on Wednesday 12 March 2008 at 11:56 UAE time


You cannot blame anybody for this mess-up. The vagaries of weather is the casue for these tragedies.

One could have avoided the accidents by controlling the speed of his vehicle or stopping the vehicle on the side away from the road no sooner when he sees the fog is spreading downwards.

This is the common sense all the motorists should have used and adoptetd in order to avoid major calamity!

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