32 Dubai children got 'locked in' this year

It is the nightmare of every child; being locked in a confined space, while your parents are far from able to hear you scream.

The lock of the door is faulty and does not open after you have locked yourself in; the elevator gets stuck halfway a building and you are all alone; or you find yourself in a car that is getting hotter by the minute, while your parents are nowhere nearby.

As we might all be able to recall at least one such event of our childhoods, it is fair to say that adults would not be any less horrified when it is their child screaming for help on the other side of a locked door.

A spate of incidents evolving around cars made it to the public, terrified parents describing their experience and warning others not to make the same mistake, especially now that summer is here and a child could succumb under the fast-rising temperatures in a car.

An expat in Dubai says: "I had put my child in his child seat and walked to the other side of the car to buckle him up. I did not realise he was playing with my car keys in the meantime.

“Before I had reached the other door, the naughty one had pushed some buttons and locked himself in."

It was 40-some degrees outside, and the temperature in the car must have been even more. I completely panicked!"
Incidents like these happen all the time.

According to Civil Defence, this year alone they saved 32 children who locked themselves in.

Children were rescued after being confined in rooms, elevators, and vehicles, said Director General of Civil Defence Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi.

While Civil Defence carried out 49 rescue operations in 2011, this number increased to a 66 operations in 2012.
The total number of incidents where people were locked in amounted to 163 in 2011, 171 in 2012 and 94 in 2013 so far.

Children are known to be more vulnerable to high temperatures and a decreasing level of oxygen in confined spaces, and every year the UAE sees a number of child deaths when they are left behind in the car.

In reference to locked-in cases, all children were rescued safely and on time, said Al Matrooshi.

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