FUJAIRAH (The Thursday Times) — Fourteen people were killed and 30 injured when a truck ploughed into slow-moving traffic and caught fire shortly before midnight on Wednesday on Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Street, at the entrance to the emirate of Fujairah, the UAE’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
Eighteen cars and five trucks were involved, the ministry said. Fujairah Police said the truck driver lost control and hit a car, which overturned and struck a number of vehicles that had stopped in slow traffic. The truck then caught fire, and the blaze spread to several other vehicles.
Pakistanis were among the injured, police said, along with Emiratis, Omanis, Indians, Brazilians, Jordanians, and Egyptians. Emiratis were among the dead, and the identities of some of those killed were still being established through DNA tests.
Fifteen of the injured have been discharged from hospital, and the other 15 are still being treated, police said. Police, ambulance crews, and civil defence teams put out the fire and took the injured to hospital.
The ministry offered its condolences to the families of the dead and urged the public to rely on official sources and not to circulate rumours or unverified information about the casualties.
A family mourns three
Separately, an Indian family from Kerala, long-time residents of Fujairah, said three of its members were killed in a road accident near the city late on Wednesday as they returned home from Sharjah: 21-year-old twins and their three-year-old nephew.
The twins’ father told reporters that the car, driven by his son, collided with a truck near the Fujairah Court House at around 11pm. His wife, his elder daughter, and two of her children were injured and are out of danger, he said.
The Indian consulate in Dubai said Indian nationals were among those killed in the Fujairah crash and that it was working with local authorities to support the bereaved families. Officials did not say whether the family’s three relatives were among the 14 dead.
Police urged drivers to follow traffic rules, keep to speed limits, and leave a safe distance between vehicles, especially when approaching congested stretches of road.
