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28 March 2024

13 dead in May crash: Bus driver ordered to pay Dh2.6 million diya

Published
By Eman Al Baik

A Pakistani bus driver was found guilty of causing the death of 13 workers in a collision with a lorry on Emirates Road and ordered to pay a total of Dh2.6 million in blood money to the victim’s families.

The Dubai Traffic Court ordered ZK to pay Dh200,000 in blood money to the families of  each of the 13 victims.

The court also sentenced ZK to seven years in jail and ordered him to pay Dh30,000 fine.

The court also ordered the suspension of the convict’s driving licence for one year, which is applicable from the date of completing his jail sentence. 

The court also ordered him to be deported after serving the jail term.

The court acquitted MG, the driver of the lorry.

Early in the morning on May 10, the bus which was transporting workers from Umm Al Quwain to Jebel Ali collided with a lorry that had stopped on the shoulder of Al Ain Road before the intersection with Emirates Road.

The bus was carrying 27 workers out of whom 13 died. Nine of the deceased were Indians and the rest Bangladeshis.

The remaining passengers of the bus including the drivers sustained varying injuries. Nine were severely hurt and six sustained moderate injuries.

Lorry driver MG, 45, told investigators that he had to stop his lorry off the road at 8pm on the night before the accident because it had some problems.

“I discovered a problem in the vehicle. The tyres were almost locked. I stopped off the road and called the company’s mechanic.
“The mechanic was to come the next day morning to fix the problem. I slept inside the lorry after placing a reflective shirt at the back of the vehicle and two fire extinguishers four metres behind it,” MG testified.

The mechanic, BK, 24, testified before the court that there was a problem with the vehicle’s brake that prevented the driver from continuing to drive it. “At the time the problem was reported by the driver, around 10pm, it was too late to buy the needed spare parts. I told the driver that I will come to the location where he had stopped the lorry on the next day morning and fix the problem,” BK told the court.
 
The accident happened at around 6am and the lorry driver who was sleeping in the vehicle woke up after the collision. MG told investigators that he did not know how the accident happened as he was sleeping.

According to records, the bus driver could not recall how the accident happened and how he lost control over the steering wheel.
“Some problem could have happened and that may have caused the steering wheel to swerve to the right on its own,” the bus driver told the court.

Traffic Prosecution experts reported that the bus driver was responsible for the deaths and injuries.