Horrific accident on Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway near Ghantoot

Abu Dhabi: At least
three people were killed and nearly 350 injured in a horrific 60
vehicle pile-up on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway near Ghantoot on
Tuesday.

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Traffic_and_Transport/10196597.html

However, Gulf News
has learnt that the death toll could be five. The 25km stretch of the
UAE's busiest highway from Abu Dhabi to Dubai was closed for more than
five hours, resulting in huge tailbacks during rush hours.

Police said among the
347 injured, six people were critical, while 39 suffered medium
injuries. The remaining suffered minor injuries. Police said 25
vehicles caught fire following the accidents caused by poor visibility
due to the thick fog and lack of attention by motorists.

Lieutenant General
Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, said coordination by
officials contributed to limiting the fatalities. Quick response by the
rescue and ambulance department officials helped save lives and in
reopening the road to traffic at the earliest. He called on all road
users to exercise caution, especially during early morning when
visibility is low.

Colonel Osman Al
Tamimi, Director of the Emergency and Safety Management section of Abu
Dhabi Police said the central operations room received a call at 6.39am
informing about a series of pile ups between Bahia bridge and Ghantoot
bridge in the direction towards Dubai. Ambulances, fire engines and
helicopters of the Air Wing were despatched immediately.

Dubai police and support teams from Armed Forces as well as a number of traffic patrols joined the rescue operations.

"The officials worked
towards moving the injured to the nearest hospitals and extinguishing
the fire," he said, adding that the roads were reopened for traffic in
record time.

An Abu Dhabi traffic police officer at the crash
site said: "The crash happened because everyone was speeding despite
the severe weather conditions. Drivers weren't leaving a safe distance
between cars and this resulted in everyone hitting each other after the
first crash."

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Traffic_and_Transport/10196597.html