Passers-by in amazing escape from falling A/C

Sharjah has a new safety hazard - falling air conditioners.

A window air conditioner fell from the 16th floor of a 20-floor residential tower in the Al Nahda area of Sharjah.

Luckily, or perhaps amazingly, no one was injured despite the AC falling down on to a busy pedestrian lane.

Needless to say there was panic among residents and pedestrians in the area.

The freak accident happened at the Al Roudha Building, opposite Sahara Center, Sharjah.

The window AC weighed about 30kg, and as it fell from it smashed a few other window air conditioners on the way.

One more AC fell out, but again, luckily, landed on the façade of an adjacent building under construction.

Window air conditioners have a standard size and have to be fully bracketed or framed, experts told this website, adding, the ACs have to be fixed in a fixed frame in such a way that it should not fall outside the building.

Jishi Samuel, an engineer at the Dubai Air Conditioning Company said air conditioners of very old buildings may not be fitted in a frame.