Moron, crash, fire, death

Al Sufouh Road by Media City. I know it well, drive on it every day.

Speed limit is 80kph, routinely ignored because it's a straight, flat dual carriageway with three lanes each side.

Yesterday yet another moron in a 4X4 was speeding while approaching red traffic lights at which other vehicles had stopped.

Not only speeding, the moron was also obviously not paying attention. Slammed the brakes on, tyre burst...


Photo: Karen Dias Gulf News

Six vehicles in flames.

One innocent woman dead, three more innocents badly injured. Had brave people not pulled those involved, including children, from the burning wreckage the death toll would have been much worse.

The moron who caused the crash? Escaped with minor injuries.

We have many people unjustifiably in jail, for bouncing cheques for example. If anyone deserves a long jail term this moron does.


The story is in Gulf News and The National.

Ten year old hero

Only ten years old but in my opinion a real hero.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

"A man and his toddler grandson have been found dead in a house fire in western NSW, while another young boy is in hospital after bravely trying to get into the house to save them, paramedics say...Paramedics also treated a boy, believed to be aged about 10, who had tried to smash a window to get into the house and help, a NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said."



The story is here.

DXB T3 - what really happened

I'm in the UK but thought I'd give you a quick update on what really happened yesterday morning at Terminal 3.

The papers are dismissing the incident with just the short 'it was nothing' official statement:

A water leakage occurred in Concourse 2 of Dubai International Airport at 6:50am on Wednesday, an official source said. (Gulf News)

The water leak that occurred at Dubai Airports Concourse 2 at 6.50am affecting six remote gates has been rectified, an official source from Dubai Airport has said on Wednesday. (Khaleej Times)

Here's an eyewitness account - mine.

There was 'water leakage' but that doesn't quite explain what happened.

We were sitting having a coffee before going to Gate 209 for our Emirates flight, due to open in ten minutes.

There was an announcement that a fire had been detected and the building was to be immediately evacuated.

Lights simultaneously stated flashing a warning on all the fire alarms.

The problem was that the announcement, presumably automatic, kept stuttering like a jammed record, stopping and starting.

Sprinklers started pouring water into one small section of the terminal. That was the 'water leakage'.

I could see no fire nor smell any smoke.

It had all the makings of a system malfunction rather than a real emergency so while people did get ready to move we all stayed put.

There was no evidence of any fire or safety people hurrying about.

Then the extractor fans, again presumably as part of the automated system, started going full bore.

The noise from the fans was so loud that it was impossible to hear any announcements. In the abscence of visual electronic instructions that could be a real problem in a real emergency. A part of the fire safety system that needs to be looked at I would suggest.

Then people in uniform started running - but it was the cleaners!

A hell of a lot of water comes from sprinklers and the area was starting to flood. So the cleaning machines, the mops, the plastic barriers were rushed to the scene.

A crowd had gathered to view the new water feature and that's when Security got involved.

Yep, you guessed their priority: "No Photos! No photos!"

A hopeless cause, there were hundreds of people with digital and phone cameras.

Here are a couple:





Gate 209 and several others were affected by the water so the aircraft had to be moved.

But to where?

There weren't many Emirates or airport staff around, apart from the cleaners, so milling around was order of the day. Hundreds of passengers who wondered which gate they now needed to go to plus hundreds more rubberneckers looking at the water.

Eventually some uniforms started shouting the destinations and their new gate numbers ("Birmingham Gate 150" for example)

We walked for, I'm not exaggerating, forty minutes (noticing by chance by glancing at the Flight Departures board that 150 had quietly changed to 144).

Good thing I noticed that.

Then a bus to the end of the airport where a line of planes was parked near the exhibition centre and we were dropped at one of them.

Fortunately it turned out to be the right one.

Interestingly the cabin crew I spoke to had no idea what had been happening.

Considering the chaos behind the scenes that must have been going on they actually handled it pretty well I thought. It can't be easy to re-organise several flights and hundreds (thousands?) of passengers at the last minute at a busy airport.

But instead of explaining exactly what had happened, what action they needed to take and how well they handled it, in other words transparency, we've got the inevitable obfuscation.

Just like the security guards trying to stop photography it's the usual pretend nothing happened mindset.

Tell us nothing. Keep it all secret. Everything's perfect, nothing ever goes wrong.

They missed the opportunity for brownie points by not explaining what a difficult situation they faced and how well they handled it.

Having said they handled it well there are a couple of things that obviously need looking at.

There's that very dangerous question of the extractor fan noise drowning out any announcements and, as there always is, the problem of lack of communication.

If you have to close a gate at the last minute and transfer the aircraft to a new one, station a staff member on it to advise passengers that a) they'll shortly be told which gate to go to; b) when the information is available WRITE IT ON A BOARD and place it at the closed gate.

With the only signs to Gate 150/144 pointing to the flooded closed-off area, meaning we had to go in the opposite direction to the signs, it would have helped to have a few more staff members directing traffic. As it was we walked to the far end of the terminal, down some stairs, back the length of the terminal again like a herd of gnu on migration, all following the leaders and hoping they knew where they were headed.

So yes, there was a problem with water but that was far from the whole story.



And the UK is cold, wet and very windy.

Wildfires all over

There seem to be wildfires, or bushfires, across the planet.

California has big fires blazing now:

Photo Wally Skalij LA Times

Athens has just been through the same, with fires getting into the suburbs:

Photo AP

And even in Australia where it's winter and months before the fire season is due to begin there are fires to the north and south of Sydney.

This is near our home town just north of Sydney this week:


Photo Waide Maguire ExpressAdvocate

To the south of the city the Rural Fire Service has declared an emergency over several bushfires. The worst weather for firefighters, high winds, is forecast.

After Australia's deadliest fires in February, when 173 people died in Victoria's Black Saturday fires, there are warnings that their upcoming fire season will be the worst in the state's history.

Back in our home state I've just looked at the New South Wales Rural Fire Service website to check the current incidents.

Remember this is not the fire season, it's winter, yet they currently have 26 bushfires listed which are affecting over 12,800 hectares (28,000 acres).

Something's going on out there.

California fires.

Athens fires.

Oz fires.

Worst-ever to come.

NSW Current Incidents.

Another vehicle fire death

Yesterday I asked, yet again, why so many vehicles here burst into flames in crashes.

Today there's another vehicle fire death, also in Sharjah. This isn't a crash, it's an odd one.

The report about it in 'The National' begins:

A taxi driver died when his vehicle caught fire yesterday morning in the Al Khan district.

Attempts to save Syed Ali Shah, 45, a Pakistani, failed after his stationary taxi was engulfed in flames at about 11am, seven hours into his shift for Union Taxi.

An eyewitness said:

"...other taxi drivers had shouted the word for fire in Urdu, Arabic and English when they saw the flames...the fire was booming and people were shouting at the driver to get out."

A stationary vehicle bursts into flames, the driver doesn't get out.

The results of the police investigation will be interesting.


The report is here.

Yet more vehicle fires.

I've repeated myself on this subject many times and I'm going to do it again because there's yet another example of vehicles bursting into flames in a crash.

The latest is a terrible crash in Sharjah which killed two people and injured thirty three more.

Of the bus and three other vehicles involved the bus and two other vehicles burst into flames.


Photo. S. Kumar in Gulf News

What I keep asking is why do so many vehicles here burst into flames?

There are plenty of crashes in other countries, including high speed crashes on motorways, but they rarely result in fires.

I can think of no other reason than that our vehicle safety standards are nowhere near where they should be.


Gulf News has the full story here.

Fires and crashes

Two stories in todays papers I thought worth commenting on.

In EmBiz247 we're told that Atlantis will open on schedule on September 24 in spite of the recent fire, pictures of which I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Well, sort of.

We have more detail than we've been given previously about the opening of the $1.5 billion resort on Palm Jumeirah.

The area affected by the fire won't open on schedule, and that's the Lobby. Instead they've set up two temporary lobbies, one in each tower. The real Lobby won't open until mid-October and in the meantime guests will have golf cart shuttles.

Less than half the hotel's 1,539 rooms will open on September 24, only between 600 and 800 will be open on opening day.

Then in The Times there's a report on the dangers of texting while driving, quoting research from Britain's Transport Research Laboratory.

It's worse than drink driving folks.

According to TRL's research, reaction times of texters slows by 35% (drink is 12%), their stopping distance increases by 10 metres at 50kph, their steering control is 91% poorer than drivers actually paying attention to their driving, in other words, they're more prone to drifting out of their lane. As we know from driving on Sheikh Zayed Road. Or on Al Wasl Road as I was this morning, taking evasive action from a Toyota Landcruiser drifting about while the driver concentrated on his mobile phone call.

I hope the police and law makers here have a copy of the research and will act accordingly.



The stories are here:

Atlantis.

Moronic drivers.

Marina fire?

Lunchtime today in Dubai Marina and I drove past this:



It looked like another construction site fire to me.

It was nothing.

The other day I mentioned the little fire at Atlantis and included a pic of the aftermath.


As I said then, the management is saying it was nothing really, it certainly won't delay the opening on September 24.


A friend sent me a Powerpoint show and I thought you might be interested to see one of the photos of the small fire that caused no problems.

Vehicle safety standards

I've often posted about the number of fires when vehicles crash here, and I've asked the rhetorical question of whether our safety standards are lower than other countries.

In today's Gulf News a report on the booming market we have for carmakers says how easy it is to ship cars here. It includes the throw-away line: Emissions and safety standards are also low.

I really think that's the problem behind the number of fatal vehicle fires.

The full story is here.

Over 80% of Dubai's warehouses and factories a fire hazard

After a succession of fatal fires around the city a month long inspection was carried out of warehouses, factories and workers' accommodation.

It's no surprise that over eighty percent are a fire hazard.

Major General Rashid Thani Al Matroushi, Director of Dubai Civil Defence, said most common violations in warehouses included random storage, lack of fire alarm and fire-fighting systems, and change of interior design without permission.

He said most factories lacked fire alarm and fire-fighting systems, storing goods near fire-fighting equipment, and blocking exits and corridors.

There's not much else they could be doing to endanger lives.

Inspections were made at 1,176 establishments, of which over 900 were not abiding by fire safety standards.

And a quote from Maj. Gen. Al Matroushi sums up the responsible attitude of the people involved. Only three of the violating establishments rectified their situations during the inspection period.

The danger they were creating was pointed out to them, they were obviously told what the problem was.

The urgent action taken to protect lives and property was a shrug of the shoulders.

Fortunately, it seems that some action may now be taken.

Many of them did not respond to civil defence procedures ... we will implement legal action starting from fining them until closing down the establishment or referring the violators to the public prosecution," Major General Al Matroushi said.

Once again it's reactive rather than the proactive action that's needed so badly in so many areas of Dubai's society. But at least it seems some kind of action may be on the cards.


Here's the Gulf News report.

This happens far too often...

Photo by Gulf News reader Tatiana Djabulu

Another crash, another vehicle bursts into flames.

I've said it many times before, vehicles crash - including at high speeds - in other countries but they don't seem to burst into flames as they do here.

Do we not have adequate regulations about fuel tank safety?

And on the road safety subject, statistics reported by Dubai police show that our road deaths are going up. There were 147 people killed in the last six months, an increase of 8% over the same period last year.

Think about it, it's person being killed almost every day.

The stats also show that 1,688 were injured in 1,914 crashes in the last six months. That's about ten a day, every day.
Plenty of talk, plenty of hand-wringing, plenty of promises, but the situation is getting worse.


The stories are here and here.

Five killed on Sheikh Rashid Road

The death toll on Dubai's roads reached ten since Thursday when five people in a minibus were killed yesterday.

On Sheikh Rashid Road, a dual carriageway in Dubai city, the minibus crashed across the central reservation and into an oncoming car.

The driver of the minibus and four passengers were killed, four others were injured including the driver of the other car.

Looking at photographs of the wreckage it would have been a bigger death toll had the minibus been full:


Gulf News photo

I, and others, have talked about the standard of driving displayed by bus drivers many times in the past. And the roadworthiness of the buses.

I see, almost on a daily basis, huge construction worker buses, minibuses and large private buses being raced around the streets. In Dubai Marina and Knowledge Village in particular I often see them lurching around the small roundabouts almost on two wheels.

On a post a while ago a comment was left by a pupil who said his school bus driver frightened them with his dangerous driving.

This latest crash is being blamed on speeding and possibly the driver falling asleep, pending investigation. I don't think speeding is in any doubt, looking at what happened and the damage caused.

Five more lives needlessly wasted.

And on another aspect of the same subject that I've talked about many times, two more vehicle fires are reported.

A refrigerated van hit a donkey, killing the animal and 'caused the vehicle to burst into flames'. And a 4x4 hit a motorcycle left in the road after an earlier accident and 'the crash led to the loud explosion of the petrol tank'.


We keep talking about it, we keep saying the obvious, that action must be taken but the crashes and the fires keep happening.

And more and more people continue to needlessly, and avoidably, lose their lives.

Gulf News has the stories and photographs here and here.

Another firefighter dies

The seemingly endless fires in the UAE have claimed another firefighter's life and two others were injured when they fought a blaze in a store in Al Ain

Reports say it was a nine-hour long operation for the firefighters. The fire generated thick black smoke and very high heat from highly inflammable material stored in the building.

No details of the casualties were given in the report, which you can read here.

Meanwhile firefighters in California are struggling with out of control wildfires. Over half a million acres have already been burnt and nearly forty homes destroyed. State of emergency has been declared in various areas and mass evacuations are being carried out.

The LA Times has the story here.

Another avoidable tragedy

There is no question that road crashes are the fault of drivers.

But...roads and the management of them are a contributing factor.

Not just in Dubai, anywhere the world.

While we have a huge way to go to educate drivers, that isn't going to happen any time soon.
But there is no excuse for not urgently fixing current hazards and avoiding future dangers caused by bad planning and management of the roads (there I go again).

I've talked about it several times - the mish-mash of US and British road systems, the short distances given to filter in and cross several lanes of traffic to move into the lane you need, the confusing or non-existent signage. Roundabouts with traffic lights, U-turns without traffic lights. Vision blocked; here's a comment e-mailed to me by a friend about Al Wasl Road:

"the STUPID advertising bill-boards (you know, the free standing ones with lights inside) on the central reservation, usually advertising Burger King, Pizza Hut or Davidoff's new perfume) REALLY BLOCK THE VIEW."

All of that is about the planning. Or lack of it.

Last year on Al Wasl Road this happened:

The two, both in their early 20s, burnt to death when their Peugeot 206 caught fire after it was struck by another vehicle on Al Wasl Road in Dubai on Friday afternoon.

It happended here, where they were apparently attempting a U-turn:



Photo: Regi Varghesi. Gulf News

It happened again on Friday and the report reminded us that:

Three expatriates died in a similar accident involving a U-turn five months back.

On Friday:

Three people, including a five-year-old child, were burnt to death in a horrific car accident late on Friday night on Al Wasl Road.

According to witnesses, the accident happened when the car carrying the child rammed into another vehicle while taking a U-turn near the Iranian Hospital.

Later reports say the child was only two and was sitting on the driver's lap. Dear God! Just maybe, she might have been saved by the people who tried to help had she been in a proper child seat in the back of the car.

It happened here:


Photo: Megan Hirons. Gulf News.

They weren't the cause of the crash but the trees and all the poles certainly don't help visibility and probably contributed to the problem.

So now the RTA has closed the U-turn and has taken the trees out:


Photo: Javed Nawab. Gulf News.

And here's where I get back to the lack of planning.

You notice there are no traffic lights at either U-turn?

The road is busier than ever with Salik dodgers using it, and drivers waiting to U-turn or drive across get impatient. I know they shouldn't but that's human nature and it's something that any good planner, any health & safety expert, allows for and builds into his plan.

Only after several crashes and deaths is action taken to remove the hazard. But it should never have been planned that way in the first place. Prevention. Don't create a problem and fix it afterwards, don't create the problem in the first place.

If we're going to have the dual-carriageway/U-turn system, if we're going to make drivers who want to turn left cross two or three lanes, then traffic lights should always have been the key safety factor.

Much of it is not originally the RTA's fault because it was built long before the RTA were formed. But they are at fault for not having urgently removed the hazards on what is after all one of Dubai's main arterial roads.


And while I'm ranting, again I have to raise the question of why there are so many fires in vehicle crashes. Here are the terrible remains of this latest crash:


Photo: Bassam Za'za'. Gulf News.

There are plenty of crashes in other countries, including high-speed crashes on freeways. But very rarely is there an instant fire which is actually the cause of deaths. The crash doesn't kill the occupants, it's the fire afterwards.

So why do we have them? Do we have less safe cars? Do we need tighter regulations?

Back in November I posted that: "Dr. Yaser Hawas, Director of the Roadway, Transportation & Traffic Safety Research Centre in Al Ain, said the occurrence of vehicle fires during accidents is so alarming that it warrants an investigation into the causes".

I wonder whether anything ever happened.



You can read the stories about these awful incidents here, here, here and here.

Dubai marina fire

Yet another in a seemingly endless succession of fires.

This one is at Dubai Marina, close to Interchange 5 and near to Media City.

I drove past as it was, I think, in its early stages at around 6.30pm. It was on a plot that seems to have no work going on and it was at ground level.

Half an hour later I was on my way from MC into Dubai Marina and Mrs Seabee took these quick shots as we drove on the slip road to join SZR:





There seems to be no hard information anywhere yet - a brief report of a fire but that's all.

Heroes killed

The word hero is used far too often in my opinion. It should be reserved for the deserving few, and way up on my list of the few are firefighters.

A hero to me is someone who deliberately goes towards something the rest of us run from. Like fire. Like collapsing buildings.

Yesterday there were two stories in Gulf News, I'm sure their appearance in the same edition was a coincidence.

First, a story from Al Ain about the Technical Rescue & Quick Intervention team that's part of the Department of Emergency & Public Safety at the Ministry of Interior. The title of the story was, appropriately, "Risking lives to ensure safety."

And on the front page was a news item: "Firefighters die trying to put out blaze."

Today the two firefighters are named as Hytham Faraj and Kamal Hussein, who died while fighting a fire on a Palm Jumeirah construction site.

Like their firefighter colleagues around the world, they were heroes.

Stories are here. and here.

New Naif Souk

Some good news...the recently destroyed Naif Souk won't be replaced by a high-rise tower or 'iconic' building.

According to Dubai Municipality the new one will look like this:



Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director-General of Dubai Municipality, said:
"It will have the theme and spirit of the old souq and will be built following local architectural designs." There will be around 350 shops, almost double the capacity of the destroyed souq. The souq will be a two-storey, air-conditioned building, and will have additional facilities for traders and shoppers.

They say the new souq will be built quickly. "We will bring the hustle and bustle back to Naif Souq by the end of this year."

The story is in Gulf News here.

Fires - the usual Dubai problem.

A couple of days ago I said "What is it with Dubai and fires" when I posted on the Naif Souk inferno.

Since then there's been another major fire, this one in an Al Quoz warehouse - again. There won't be any warehouses left if this continues.

Just imagine what was in the air from this one...

"Some 45 firemen battled for over two hours to save lives and material at two warehouses that stored chemicals, paints and thinners."

Two people were injured in this latest fire, one with severe burns.

Our outspoken Police Chief had this to say:

"...warehouses such as the ones that recently caught fire do not meet safety standards and are hardly inspected." Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim said: "I see that inspections of such establishments are rare. Procedures are only carried out during the licensing process and after that there is no monitoring."

That what's behind many of our avoidable problems. Laws, rules and regulations are in place but they're not enforced.



Fire story here and Lt Gen Tamim's comments are here.

Another big fire, in Deira this time

What is it with Dubai and fire?

We seem to have an inordinate number of fires in car crashes, we've had the huge Jebel Ali Port fire, last week over 80 warehouses destroyed in the Al Quoz fire, with four people now confirmed dead, and this morning 100 shops in Deira were destoyed by fire.

Thankfully no-one was hurt in this latest incident, although some firefighters have been treated for smoke inhalation.

I guess the time of day helped to prevent casualties because the reports say it started just before two in the morning.

It's in the heart of Deira in Naif Souk and is being blamed on an electrical short-circuit in an air conditioning unit.

Reports are saying that, inevitably, huge crowds gathered to watch - probably endangering themselves and getting in the way of the emergency services. I know it's a cultural thing but I really don't understand this need to stand and stare at things.

Both Gulf News and Khaleej Times have photos showing the extent of the damage, such as this one from Gulf News reader Sajip P.S.