NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL
Firefighters make dramatic rescue
ABU DHABI - FEB. 16: Emergency workers risked their lives in a daring rescue yesterday when they walked along the arm of a burning crane 16 floors up to reach the operator, trapped while trying to escape.
The Indian worker was forced to climb out of the cabin of his crane and stay there for nearly three hours after the fire took hold at around 3.30pm.
Ashok Kumar, 32, from Punjab, emerged unhurt but shaken after his terrifying ordeal and was then reunited with his brother and co-worker, Baru das Chahal, at the roadside below.
Mr Kumar spoke by mobile phone as he waited anxiously for firemen to put out the flames and reach him. As he was buffeted by high winds more than 75 metres off the ground, he said: “I can see the fire creeping. I have no more fear left. If I am to die, then it will be the will of God. I am fine for now but I am thinking of my doll, my daughter at home.”
Three firemen scaled the vertical leg of the crane before walking the length of the horizontal arm to reach Mr Kumar. They then dressed him in protective clothing and strapped him into a harness before lowering him to the 14th floor, where he crossed a wooden platform to the block of flats.
Mr Kumar was then escorted down stairs inside the building, which is under construction. He was taken to an ambulance for a health check and then reunited with his brother.
“I am fine now. I can breathe better and really I wasn’t hurt at all,” he said as he was being checked by paramedics.
The father of one had been moving materials at the high-rise building on Airport Road, close to the junction with Delma Street, when he first noticed smoke.
Emergency teams said initial reports suggested the fire had been caused by an electrical problem, although Mr Kumar said he noticed the fire only because the wind changed and blew smoke in his direction.
After initially taking refuge in his cabin, he moved on to the crane’s arm because he had run out of options.
He said: “I couldn’t possibly get down, could I?”
Mr Kumar has worked in construction for a decade and moved to the UAE in 2004.
He began working as a crane operator three years ago.
His brother, 39, who works as a carpenter and foreman on the building site, was comforted by friends and colleagues as he watched the rescue unfold.
“I am very frightened. I am worried for him. I spoke to him on the phone and he said he was not hurt,” he said.
Scores of onlookers crowded around police barriers at the base of the building, while officers shut down part of Airport Road and diverted traffic away from the site.
Around 200 labourers had been working on the building project, which was being carried out by Shield Contractors and is due to be completed by the end of the year.
Abu Dhabi Police Lieutenant Khaled al Badi, who oversaw the rescue, said the authorities were alerted to the fire shortly after 3.30pm.
“We immediately dispatched a full platoon of 34 men to tackle the situation,” he said.
Two fire engines were deployed at the scene along with two fire and rescue support
vehicles and a hydraulic platform.
Ahmed Jheir, 29, a site engineer on the project, said he was delighted that his colleague had been brought down safely.
“I am just relieved it is all over and Ashok is safe,” he said.
“As soon as I saw the flames I called the police and told all my men to get out of the building.
“Ashok is a good worker. All my labourers are very good. Everyone was worried about him and was relieved when he came down.”
The Indian worker was forced to climb out of the cabin of his crane and stay there for nearly three hours after the fire took hold at around 3.30pm.
Ashok Kumar, 32, from Punjab, emerged unhurt but shaken after his terrifying ordeal and was then reunited with his brother and co-worker, Baru das Chahal, at the roadside below.
Mr Kumar spoke by mobile phone as he waited anxiously for firemen to put out the flames and reach him. As he was buffeted by high winds more than 75 metres off the ground, he said: “I can see the fire creeping. I have no more fear left. If I am to die, then it will be the will of God. I am fine for now but I am thinking of my doll, my daughter at home.”
Three firemen scaled the vertical leg of the crane before walking the length of the horizontal arm to reach Mr Kumar. They then dressed him in protective clothing and strapped him into a harness before lowering him to the 14th floor, where he crossed a wooden platform to the block of flats.
Mr Kumar was then escorted down stairs inside the building, which is under construction. He was taken to an ambulance for a health check and then reunited with his brother.
“I am fine now. I can breathe better and really I wasn’t hurt at all,” he said as he was being checked by paramedics.
The father of one had been moving materials at the high-rise building on Airport Road, close to the junction with Delma Street, when he first noticed smoke.
Emergency teams said initial reports suggested the fire had been caused by an electrical problem, although Mr Kumar said he noticed the fire only because the wind changed and blew smoke in his direction.
After initially taking refuge in his cabin, he moved on to the crane’s arm because he had run out of options.
He said: “I couldn’t possibly get down, could I?”
Mr Kumar has worked in construction for a decade and moved to the UAE in 2004. He began working as a crane operator three years ago.
His brother, 39, who works as a carpenter and foreman on the building site, was comforted by friends and colleagues as he watched the rescue unfold.
“I am very frightened. I am worried for him. I spoke to him on the phone and he said he was not hurt,” he said.
Scores of onlookers crowded around police barriers at the base of the building, while officers shut down part of Airport Road and diverted traffic away from the site.
Around 200 labourers had been working on the building project, which was being carried out by Shield Contractors and is due to be completed by the end of the year.
Abu Dhabi Police Lieutenant Khaled al Badi, who oversaw the rescue, said the authorities were alerted to the fire shortly after 3.30pm.
“We immediately dispatched a full platoon of 34 men to tackle the situation,” he said.
Two fire engines were deployed at the scene along with two fire and rescue support vehicles and a hydraulic platform.
Ahmed Jheir, 29, a site engineer on the project, said he was delighted that his colleague had been brought down safely.
“I am just relieved it is all over and Ashok is safe,” he said.
“As soon as I saw the flames I called the police and told all my men to get out of the building.
“Ashok is a good worker. All my labourers are very good. Everyone was worried about him and was relieved when he came down.”
Indian curriculum schools struggle to meet increased demand
ABU DHABI - FEB. 16: A worsening shortage of Indian curriculum schools in the capital has led to calls for the building of more schools.
The large-scale expatriate exodus many had expected because of the global recession has not materialised and demand for school places among the Indian community continues to soar, putting huge pressure on families.
At the Abu Dhabi Indian School, which has 5,002 pupils, applications are up 33 per cent on last year, with nearly 2,000 applicants vying for only 74 places available.
Vijay Mathu, the principal, said he was surprised by the numbers: “The general feeling was there would be a big exodus but that is not the case – at least not from this school.”
Even the city’s numerous Indian curriculum villa schools, which were started in private villas mainly for the children of low- and middle-income workers, are full.
“I think there is a need for a couple of other Indian schools in Abu Dhabi,” Mr Mathu said, adding that some families had returned to their home country because they could not find schooling for their children.
He would like to take in more children, but the school had to adhere to prescribed maximum class sizes.
One parent, George Thomas, said he had considered sending his family home to India before his child “won” a place in a lottery held by the Indian School.
“If I was not so lucky I don’t know what I would do right now,” he said.
“It has become quite difficult now to find a quality school over here. When I had my elder daughter I had no difficulty at all to put her in school.
“There was no hassle, no standing in big queues.”
There are 17 Indian schools in the capital, according to the Abu Dhabi Education Council. Just four are still taking applications for the next academic year, and three of those are in the Mussafah industrial zone.
The council says all but five of them are located in villas.
Several villa schools are also likely to be forced to relocate in the next couple of years once the council completes its inspections following health and safety concerns.
The Government first addressed the issue of villa schools in 1999 when the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs ordered them to be phased out. Yet nearly a decade later, many remain in the capital.
Saint Joseph’s school, one of the five Indian schools in Abu Dhabi not housed in a villa, is also full for next year, with 1,503 pupils registered.
“We do not keep a waiting list,” said Sister Agnesita, a school administrator. “Many people have approached the school. For the KG [kindergarten] itself we had only 100 spaces and 487 applications.”
Even the villa schools, which vary wildly in quality, have been forced to stop admissions.
George Mathew, principal at Our Own English High School, which is housed in two villas, said there were 1,800 children on its waiting list.
The only spaces available are in KG1, with some 750 applicants vying for 110 places, and 30 per cent of those will go to the siblings of children already attending the school.
Admissions closed in December and applications are being accepted only for children coming from other schools run by Global Education Management Systems in the UAE or who are new to the region.
“We don’t keep a waiting list because then they will be waiting for a very long time,” said Schuster Goveas, an administrator at the Leens School and Kindergarten, located in a villa near Al Falah shopping centre.
The school has 2,619 pupils. “We are getting maybe 1,000 applications per year and we are just able to accept 100 or so students,” she said.
“Most schools are in villas so we are not able to expand,” added Saji Oommen, principal of the Asian International Private School. “The numbers of incoming people are more now than which are going out.”
The Little Flower Private School has also stopped admissions. “There are not enough Indian schools,” said Mary Thomas, the principal.
For many parents, however, villa schools offer no remedy – even if they can get their children in.
Gautam Vaswani, another “winner” in the Indian School lottery, said he would not want to send his child to a villa school.
“There are quite a few Indian schools but if you go for a school of a good repute, a decent building, a good track record, then the choice is limited. There are quite a few that operate in a villa or two villas; you can not call it a proper school. A proper school should have a proper playground, proper classrooms, proper staff.”
Another issue for parents is that all villa schools do not go up to grade 12. “I don’t want to keep shifting from one school to another,” Mr Thomas said. “I don’t think those schools have quality education.”
ID card deadline put back to 2011
ABU DHABI - FEB. 16: Expatriate professionals now have until the end of next year to obtain their national ID card, according to the head of the programme.
“Calm down, don’t panic. Your deadline isn’t until the end of 2010,” Darwish al Zarouni, the director general of the Emirates Identity Authority (Eida), said on the sidelines of the Citizen ID Forum in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
While it was still recommended that non-national white-collar workers registered for an ID card before the Feb 28 deadline, Mr al Zarouni said they would not be denied access to government services if they did not.
He said the decision had been taken to “make life easier” for those who had not registered, and that it was up to the individual when they applied, as long as they had obtained a card by the end of 2010.
Expatriate professionals had earlier been warned they could face problems with services such as obtaining a driver’s licence, visiting a doctor or opening a bank account if they missed the deadline.
There have been chaotic scenes at registration centres with some residents queuing overnight to get an appointment, concerned about the consequences of not getting one in time.
On Eida’s website, there are no appointments available anywhere in the UAE until several months after the Feb 28 deadline.
In October, expatriate professionals were told they had until Dec 31 to register or face fines and be denied access to services. That deadline was then pushed back to the end of February, with officials saying there would be no fines until 2010.
“We’ve given professional expatriates a time of three months or four months to come and enrol,” Mr al Zarouni said.
“If this expatriate misses his time frame, we don’t mind him coming to register during the next group’s time frame.”
Mr al Zarouni said residents might face a longer wait after the registration process is opened up to other groups.
Administrative workers, including secretaries, translators, typists and shopkeepers, along with expatriates employed in the hotel, restaurant and tourism industries, are due to begin applying from March 1.
“It’s great news,” said Hani Qassim, 32, a Canadian business consultant who has not yet tried to register. “I was expecting something like this because I’ve heard it’s very difficult to schedule an appointment.
“I’m just leaving it until I have to. I’ll wait until I hit a roadblock and then I’ll get one.”
Jean Hariz, 27, a business development manager and Lebanese national, said he had been concerned about the December deadline but after that had been pushed back he had not worried.
Mr Hariz said he was now waiting for his company to organise the ID card for him: “If it’s necessary, then they will sort it out.”
Also at the Citizen ID Forum yesterday was Abdelhafid Mordi, from Thales, a provider of security solutions that is working with Morocco to introduce ID cards.
Mr Mordi said getting the population registered was one of the biggest challenges in introducing a national identity card.
“It’s something that’s very difficult,” he said. “It’s not about technology, it’s about logistics and communication. You can put down deadlines but are you sure they are going to be respected?
“You have to make sure that the population knows it’s in their best interests. It has to be attractive to them. There needs to be motivation for them to get the new cards.”
Official says ferries often ignore safety rules
ABU DHABI - FEB. 16: The head of the rescue team from Wednesday’s ferry sinking off Al Gharbia has demanded that ferry operators be held to stricter safety regulations, as hopes fade for the seven sailors still missing.
The only survivor found so far, a Pakistani man, has been recovering in a clinic on Mubarraz Island since he was found on Butiyna Island on Thursday, officials from the Critical National Infrastructure Authority (CNIA) said.
On Saturday the body of an Indonesian man, believed to be Eman Suryadi, a sailor, was found washed up on Mubarad Island, about 16km from where the ferry, the Dhanna III, was found.
The search continues for a Bangladeshi, three Indians and three more Pakistanis.
The Dhanna III set out from Mugharaq, on the western Al Gharbia coast, to Jurnain Island when it encountered stormy weather.
The CNIA director general, Brig Muhair al Khatiri, said in an interview with Abu Dhabi TV that many boat operators ignored weather warnings and many vessels were not properly equipped with lifesaving equipment.
“We warn people that they should not sail during this period, but many of them do not listen to us,” Brig al Khatiri said. “We must ensure that these boats have buoyancy aids on board, such as life jackets, as well as proper communications equipment.”
The Dhanna III, built in 1979, was part of a fleet operated by the Dalma Co-operative Society, connecting the mainland and islands.
Officials with the Dalma Co-operative Society could not be reached for comment yesterday. On Saturday the society’s chairman, Eid al Mazroui, said if the boat had not been seaworthy, it would not have been allowed to sail.
CNIA officials said yesterday they had not yet reached any conclusions about the vessel’s seaworthiness, saying bad weather was the main reason for it sinking.
Meanwhile, anxious relatives said they were waiting for information about the crew members.
“We are waiting and hoping,” said Gafar Moosa, a Dalma resident whose brother is one of the missing Indian sailors.
“No one has told me anything at all,” said Hertadi Ismail, Mr Suryadi’s nephew, who travelled from Al Gharbia to Abu Dhabi yesterday to try to find out what had happened to his uncle.
Officials at the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi said that while they held faint hopes for the remaining crewmen, they feared the worst after four days of fruitless searching.
The Dhanna III set off about 10am last Wednesday before increasingly stormy weather conditions forced the captain to change direction, Brig al Khatiri said.
The captain had told the Dalma Co-operative Society by radio that he was changing course for Zirco Island, an oil-producing facility owned by the Zakum Development Company. Radio contact was then lost.
Dalma told the CNIA it could no longer communicate with the Dhanna III, which was being battered by winds of up to 40 knots and three-metre waves, before capsizing some 25km from Zirco Island.
The CNIA then called marine departments in the area, Brig al Khatiri said, but no one could get in touch with the ferry.
“We moved directly after that,” he said. “We tried to locate the boat but with no result. We then formed a rescue team from Mubarraz Island and we used ships to look out for it. That was all in the first day.”
The CNIA now plans to raise the Dhanna III, a task that could take days, he said.