DUBAI // Police have rescued 58 children – some as young as 1 – who have been locked in hot cars so far this year, despite repeated warnings for parents to take more care.
“It is shocking that this happens all the time and people need to be very careful when temperatures are rising,” said Maj Abdullah Bisho, director of Dubai Police land rescue. “There were children between the ages of 1 and 15 stuck in vehicles.”
Officers responded to 55 incidents, three of which involved two children trapped in the sweltering heat. Last year, 130 children were freed from vehicles by Dubai Police.
Dr Taisser Atrak, head of paediatrics at Mafraq Hospital, has said that the temperature in a car can quickly rise to at least 30°C above the outside temperature, which has been hovering around 40°C in the past couple of weeks, with a high of 48°C on June 3.
Dr Atrak said children became very weak very quickly, and could not open windows for themselves.
Health officials say children can die of suffocation within 10 minutes.
Maj Bisho’s department also rescues people trapped in cars after accidents.
“We’re called to help free people after accidents on almost a daily basis,” he said.
“There have been a series of accidents involving heavy vehicles. Some drivers do not take into account that they are carrying a lot of weight and need more time to brake or turn.”
For the year until June 5, 16 people had died in 75 accidents that needed the unit’s assistance.
Maj Bisho said 44 people were seriously injured, 47 moderately, and 19 had slight injuries.
In one, a mobile crane carrying two workers flipped over and burst into flames in Jebel Ali.
“We were able to rescue the driver by breaking the windscreen, but his helper was stuck under the vehicle and was burned alive,” Maj Bisho said.
“Another incident, which took place near Festival City, involved two trucks and a small vehicle. One man was severely injured while another was crushed.”
An accident on June 12 on Al Khail Road led to the death of a bus driver.
“The bus, which was carrying 14 people and headed to Al Barsha, crashed into another vehicle at 5.55am,” Maj Bisho said. “These minibuses can be very dangerous if the driver is not careful, because if there is nothing to protect them in the front of the vehicle they will immediately be crushed.”
So far this year the unit has responded to 108 cases of people trapped in homes or buildings and 20 cases of people stuck in lifts.
“Our number one priority is and will always be to rescue the person, but we also try do as little damage to property as possible,” said Maj Bisho, adding that the unit was often alerted after complaints of bad smells coming from an apartment or villa.
“We always worry that those cases involve suicides,” he said.
dmoukhallati@thenational.ae
