Fatal falls from high-rises return to haunt UAE: 3 deaths in 3 days, including 2 kids

The horror of deaths due to falls from apartment blocks returned to the UAE with three such deaths recorded in the past 3 days.

Tragically, two of those deaths involve children less than 5 years of age.

The third fall took the life of a youth.

The UAE authorities across the emirates have been busy raising awareness, looking at new building rules for balconies and windows after a similar spate of deaths shocked the nation last year.

If there was any reminder needed of that vigilance cannot be reduced the last few days have provided it.

Once again the focus will be on the responsibility of parents and elders in the house to ensure windows and balconies and made child-proof.

Once again the police in various emirates will have to deal with just how culpable can parents be held in such situations.

2 year-old Indian in Sharjah

A two-year-old Indian baby fell to death from the fifth floor of a building in Al Muteena area of Sharjah on Friday afternoon.

Parents of Amar Dev, 2 years are saddened by the accident that happened in the afternoon of Friday.

The family had rented this flat just a month ago when the boy, Amar Dev, and his mother moved to the UAE in December 2012 to live here, said Biju, a family friend who lives in the same building.

“The mother kept the baby on top of a table near the window.

“There was a mosquito net and curtain. The mother went to the kitchen to prepare meal for the baby and the father was in the washroom when the baby fell to his death within two minutes.

“By the time she came back, the baby had fallen through the window. How the window was opened is a mystery and the child must have opened it,” he said adding that “he is two years old and he’s able to walk and talk.”

The child's father rushed the boy to Al Zahra Hospital, but the child died after arriving at the hospital.

Aji Shivadasan and Divya Shivasan married nearly five years ago and Amar Dev was their first baby.

5-year old Palestinian in Abu Dhabi

A Palestinian child, aged 5, fell from the window of his apartment on the third floor in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

The boy died on the spot and the incident took place in Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi.

Major General Nasser Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of the Minister of the Interior and Chairman of Higher Committee for Child Protection in the

Ministry of Interior, said that the child, PT, said the child fell after getting through a narrow opening to the window on the third floor.

Major General Al Nuaimi stressed that forgetting to close even one window, as in this case, can have fatal consequences.

Major General Al Nuaimi has appealed to families to take safety precautions to reduce such incidents when children are at home.

19-year old Arab in Ajman

A 19-year-old Arab man died after he fell off the balcony of his family’s flat on the third floor of a residential building in Ajman.

The fall caused a skull fracture, bleeding from the nose and ear, and a rib fracture.

According to local media reports, the deceased’s father said that his son was suffering from a neurological disease. On the day of the incident, he was given various types of drugs at the hospital, he added.

Before his fall, he was sitting with his family in his room and suddenly he headed to the balcony, where he lost his balance and fell off, as he is 190 cm tall and the barrier of the balcony was short.

His mother saw him hanging on, but they could not catch him before he fell, the deceased’s father added.
 

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