SHARJAH // The safety of children in high-rise residential towers is again the topic of much discussion in the emirate after yet another tragic death this week.
On Monday night a four-year-old Algerian boy in Al Khan became the sixth child to fall from a window or balcony in Sharjah this year. Five of the children died.
Sharjah Municipality insists that its safety regulations exceed international standards. The bottom of windows on towers must be at least 120 centimetres above the level of the floor, as opposed to the one-metre international standard, while windows are allowed to open only 10cm. Yet this has not prevented a spate of incidents.
“There are security standards in the apartments – windows can’t open more than 10cm – yet we keep hearing about these incidents, over and over again,” said Syrian architect Bashar Al Teebi, 52, a father of six who lives on the fourth floor of a high-rise in Al Buheira with his family.
Egyptian Anas Mohammed and his wife Samar said they were paranoid about their children’s safety.
“My wife and I make sure every window is locked at all times and our five-year old son, Mohammed, is never left alone in the apartment,” said the 34-year-old.
Mr Mohammed’s 27-year-old wife, a full-time mother, said keeping an eye on her son was daunting when she was also looking after her one-year-old daughter.
“I try to always keep my son in sight, and we make sure that there isn’t any furniture underneath windows in our flat in Al Majaz, but running around the house doing chores sometimes makes me lose focus on my son,” she said.
Manal Abdullah installed grilles on her flat’s balcony last year to protect her two children.
“My children are safe after the balcony was secured,” said the Palestinian mother of two, who lives in Al Khan.
“This way, they can do whatever they want in the apartment without any fear of falling.
“The windows have extra locks that are childproof.”
Sharjah Police has launched several awareness campaigns on fall deaths and urged residents to secure windows and balconies to prevent children falling out as well as warning parents not to leave children unattended.
Last month, a four-year-old Arab girl died after falling from a tower in Al Majaz. The girl had been left alone in her apartment and police said she climbed on a chair close to the window, lost her balance and fell.
Also last month, a two-and-a-half-year-old Asian girl fell from a window of a seventh-floor flat in Al Qasimia. Her mother had left home as her daughter slept to pick her son up from school.
Police said the child climbed on a cabinet underneath a window and fell to her death.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
