Three Emiratis, who died in Oman floods, laid to rest in Al Ain

Rashid Al Nuaimi, Staff Reporter

Al Ain City on Sunday lost three Emiratis including a child, who were drowned in Wadi Al Qahfi of Oman’s State of Mahdah. Their vehicle was swept by the torrential floods resulting from the heavy rain that fell on Saturday afternoon.

A number of people who happened to be there had managed to rescue four people.They sustained multiple injuries and fractures, while the other three were washed away by the water.

Al Ain inhabitants on Sunday mourned the deceased Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi, Salem Mohammed Al Kaabi and Khalifa Abdullah Al Kaabi.

The funeral prayers were performed for them in Martyr Abdul Aziz Al Kaabi Mosque in Al Foah after Al Asr prayer.

The deceased were buried in Al Foah Cemetery in the presence of a large crowd of relatives and Emiratis.

Sheikh Salem Bin Ali Al Kaabi, Member of Consultative Council of Oman and Representative of the State of Mahdah, offered his condolences to the families of the deceased, praying to Allah to have mercy upon them.

Al Kaabi thanked Oman’s Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance, Royal Oman Police and Air Ambulance in the governorates of Al Buraimi and Al Batinah North for the great efforts they exerted for several hours in rescue and search operations.

He also valued the efforts exerted by the charitable teams in Al Buraimi and Mahdah as well as the inhabitants of the villages overlooking the valley, who participated in combing the stream and searching for the missing Emirates throughout the evening until the early hours of the morning.

An eyewitness who helped pick up survivors said the young men were in the course of the narrow valley when they were swept by the torrential waters, adding that he and another citizen had warned them before they rushed to pick them up.

They, however, managed to rescue four people, while the vehicle that was carrying the three Emiratis was swept away in the flooded valley, he said.

Earlier, the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance in Al Buraimi Governorate indicated that it had received a report about two vehicles carrying seven people being swept away in a flooded valley in the State of Mahdah.

Some four people were rescued while the other three went missing, it added, noting that the governorate’s search and rescue teams were carrying out search operations for the three missing people.

Later, Al Buraimi Police and Omani nationals found one of the three missing Emiratis dead in Wadi Al Qahfi, while search operations for the two other missing Emiratis continued with the support of the Oman air wing where larger areas of the valley, which extends to Al Batinah North Governorate, were combed.

The Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance, in co-operation with the police in Al Buraimi and Al Batinah North, found the bodies of the two other Emirates in the early hours of the morning.