FUJAIRAH // The father of a four-year-old girl who died after falling from a third-floor window has urged parents to make sure their homes are secure.
On Wednesday morning, Manal Al Sarsi was with her 16-year-old sister at the family’s flat in Merbeh when she opened a living room window and fell. The youngster suffered serious head injuries and was taken to Merbeh Health Care Centre before being transferred to Fujairah Hospital where she died a few hours later.
Ahmad Al Sarsi was on his way to work when his teenage daughter called to say her sibling was badly hurt. The father of three had left the two girls in the house for less than five minutes before the accident happened.
“I took Manal with me to school in the morning as I work as a teacher. She stayed with me until 10am and then we left to pick her older sister from school and then went home,” said Mr Al Sarsi.
“I had to go back to school and I left them at home and after five minutes my daughter called me. She was shouting and crying saying that her sister fell out of the window.”
Manal’s older sister was in the bathroom when the youngster opened the window.
Mr Al Sarsi rushed home to find his youngest child lying unconscious on the ground below their flat.
“I was shocked, and the guys working in a nearby restaurant called the police so I ran to the health centre next door and brought a doctor to help Manal,” said the Egyptian.
“They provided first aid and when they saw her situation they decided to move her to Fujairah Hospital. They admitted her in the ICU and tried to save her but she had suffered from severe head trauma and bleeding and after few hours they announced her death.”
Mr Al Sarsi, who has another daughter, aged 12, said Manal usually stays with a nanny while he and his wife, who is also a teacher, are at work.
The family takes care to make sure all windows in their flat are closed. He does not know how his daughter was able to open the living room window by herself.
“We live in the last floor of a three-storey building and we always keep the windows closed, she is a child and didn’t know what she was doing. Having windows without any sort of protection is dangerous for all children,” he said.
A neighbour said the accident has made her fearful for her children’s safety.
“I was in my apartment when I saw the police around 11am but I didn’t know what’s the problem,” said the Indian mother of three. “I heard the elder sister shout but I thought they were playing, and when I saw the ambulance I went down to see what’s going on and that’s when I saw them moving the little girl to the ambulance.
“It’s very dangerous and now I’m afraid that my kids would do the same thing,” she said.
Manal was buried on Wednesday after Al Isha prayers at Al Raqabani Mosque in Merbeh.
There have been similar accidents in the northern emirates this year, resulting in one death. In July, a 16-year-old girl was seriously injured after falling from her fourth floor flat in Sharjah in the Al Buheira neighbourhood, while in RAK in June a five-year-old Arab boy was injured after falling from a window at his second-floor flat.
Also that month in Sharjah a four-year-old boy died after falling from the 18th floor of high-rise building in Al Khan.
rhaza@thenational.ae
