The Evening Post

Sep 9, 2010

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‘I saw my friend die in front of me’

Bangladeshi worker Mohammed Il

By Alisha Coelho
alisha@eveningpost.ae
Labourer recounts horrifying episode; action to be taken against bus driver, says company

Dubai Two days after the horrific accident on Sheikh Zayed Road, workers still recall with horror the incident that led to the tragic demise of some of their friends and co-workers.
Several labourers, who survived the accident are still in critical condition at Rashid Hospital. Dr. Moin Fikree, Clinical Director of the Accident and Emergency Trauma Centre at the hospital says that though the hospital had treated 69 patients effectively in the span of two hours, several of them are still not out of danger.
One more labourer succumbed to injuries in the Intensive Care Unit on Wednesday afternoon taking the death toll to nine. The victims were from China, India and Pakistan.
Pyari Lal, a labourer who was travelling towards Mirdiff in the bigger school bus with his companions that morning is worried about his recovery. “I do not feel much sensation in my right leg. I have also injured my chest and waist,” he says.
Lal, a father of two, has been working in Dubai for two years. He is presently employed with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation. “I saw my friend Mahinder die right in front of me. I was conscious all the while and I was stuck with three others in the bus for some time before we were rescued,” he says.
Lal has been discharged from the hospital and is back at his labour camp.
Kurda Ram Kal, one of Lal’s friends, who visited him at hthe camp, says he was shocked when he heard the news. “I went to see him at the hospital and also at the labour camp. I could not believe what had happened.”
Meanwhile, Qaiser Pervaiz, a representative from China State Construction Engineering Corporation promised the workers would be duly compensated. He said their families had been informed of the accident. “We hope to take legal action against the rental company where the bus driver and bus were hired from,” he added.
The workers were travelling from Jebel Ali to Mirdiff to work on a Palm Jumeirah site when their bus overturned on the wet road and a mini van carrying labourers to Fujairah rammed into it. The drivers of both vehicles were speeding.