Seven women killed as family car hits truck in Saudi Arabia

Arab News
January 28, 2018

Jazan, Jan 28: Seven women were killed and five injured as the second family this month suffered multiple fatalities in a traffic accident at Sawarma Road in Jazan region.

Earlier, Sami bin Mohammed Ali Al-Nami lost his wife and six sons in an accident at Al-Kadmi Center in Sibia.

In the latest crash, the five injured include an elderly man, a woman and two children. Witnesses to the accident said family had been traveling to a wedding.

It was reported to Okaz newspaper that the car struck the rear of a truck which was been driven without taillights. The truck was being towed by another truck, near Madaya town, on a single-lane dark highway.

Locals have already petitioned for lighting for the 15km highway, which they say lacks basic safety measures, and is doubly treacherous due to the fact that camels stray on to the road.

A spokesman for Red Crescent in Jazan, Bishi Al-Sarkhi, said the operation room were informed of an accident involving a family car at 8:20 p.m. on Thursday. Four ambulances attended the scene. Six people were found dead, while the five injured were transferred to a nearby hospital.

Yahya Al-Qahtani, spokesman of the Civil Defense in Jazan, said its units attended the scene and pulled out the bodies and the injured from the wreckage. Six people were declared dead at the scene while the five injured were transferred in a Red Crescent ambulance to a nearby hospital. One woman died at the hospital, he added.

Jazan residents hit out at local traffic police after the accident, blaming the lack of year-long lighting on the highway, despite the fact that it is a route to many important cities. They said trucks were the common denominator in the tragedies that have occurred on this road.

They accuse truck drivers of failing to respect the designated schedules, lanes, safety and warning requirements. They said there was and thus led to the destruction of the road due to the excessive gross vehicle weights and overloading.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Sharjah, Apr 20: Air Arabia announced on Monday it will operate new repatriation flights from four cities in India to Sharjah carrying UAE nationals back home.

The special flights will operate from Mumbai and Delhi to Sharjah International Airport on April 20 while special flights will operate from Kochi and Hyderabad to Sharjah International Airport on April 22.

Air Arabia remains committed to bring stranded citizens back home as well as supporting requests to operate repatriation flights and is working closely with UAE authorities in this regard, the airline said.

Air Arabia announced earlier that it’s operating a mix of repatriation flights as well as cargo flights during the month of April to multiple destinations.

Further information about the repatriation and cargo flights is available on the website or can be obtained by contacting the Air Arabia call centre on 06 5580000 or respective travel agent.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Makkah, Jul 31: Organising this year's scaled-down hajj required "double efforts" by Saudi authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic, King Salman said Friday after being discharged from hospital following gall bladder surgery.

Only up to 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom are participating in this year's pilgrimage, compared with 2019's gathering of some 2.5 million from around the world.

"Holding the ritual in the shadow of this pandemic... required reducing the numbers of pilgrims, but it obliged various official agencies to put in double efforts," 84-year-old King Salman said in a speech read out on state television by acting media minister Majid Al-Qasabi.

"The hajj this year was restricted to a very limited number of people from multiple nationalities, ensuring the ritual was completed despite the difficult circumstances," he said.

The speech came on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, a day after the king left hospital following a 10-day stay for surgery to remove his gall bladder.

The hajj, which began on Wednesday, is one of the five pillars of Islam and a must for able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime.

Authorities implemented the "highest health precautions" during the rituals, the king said.

Pilgrims, who were all tested for the virus, are required to wear masks and observe social distancing.

For Friday's "stoning of the devil", the last major ritual of the hajj, Saudi authorities offered the pilgrims pebbles that were sanitised to protect against the pandemic.

In a sign that its strict measures were working, the health ministry reported no coronavirus cases in the holy sites on Wednesday or Thursday.

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News Network
May 19,2020

Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates today reported 873 new coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 25,063.

Three more people have died from the virus, bringing the total death toll to 227, the ministry revealed, adding that a total of 1,214 COVID-19 patients have made full recovery, which takes the overall number of patients recovered to 10,791.

The latest coronavirus patients, all of whom are in a stable condition and receiving the necessary care, were identified after conducting more than 38,000 additional COVID-19 tests among UAE citizens and residents over the past few days, the ministry said.

It expressed its sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and wished a speedy recovery to all patients, calling on the public to cooperate with health authorities and comply with all precautionary measures, particularly social distancing protocols, to ensure the safety and protection of the public.

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