Wrong placing of height barrier blamed for Dubai bus crash that killed 12 Indians
Dubai: The lawyers of the Omani bus driver, who rammed the vehicle into a height barrier in Dubai that killed 17 people including 12 Indians, have told a UAE court that the restriction bar violated the GCC safety guidelines.
Twelve Indians were among the 17 people killed in the horrific bus accident on June 7 when the bus, coming from Oman, wrongly entered a road not designated for buses and crashed into a height barrier that cut the left side of the bus and killed passengers sitting on that side.
The other deceased include two Pakistanis, one Omani and one Filipina.
Mohammad Al Tamimi, one of the two lawyers representing the driver, told the Dubai Traffic Court that the distance between the warning signboard and the height barrier was only 12 metres, the Gulf News reported Tuesday.
The mistake is in the place of the height barrier according to the pictures in the accident scene. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) guideline for positioning advance warning signs states that if the road's speed limit is 60km/h, then the distance between the signboard or height restriction chain and the height barrier should be 60 metres, not 12 metres in our case, Al Tamimi told the court.
According to Traffic Prosecution, the speed limit on that road is 40 km/h.
The Dubai Police blamed the 53-year-old Omani driver, who was moderately injured, for the accident, saying "at times a small mistake or negligence can lead to adverse consequences".
It was too short a distance to stop the vehicle. It is not the defendant's mistake and not his negligence. Putting the height barrier in a wrong place caused the accident, Al Tamimi said.
Al Tamimi claimed there is no proof that the defendant was driving the bus at 94kph when the crash happened.
He asked the court to assign a specialised engineer from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to inspect the crash site and make a report of the positioning of warning signboards and the height barrier, the report said.
Meanwhile, the second defence lawyer Mohammed Al Sabri accused the RTA of eight mistakes found by a report prepared by the company that owns the bus.
He submitted a copy of the report to the court and requested the appointment of an expert to examine the accident location and check if the mistakes were committed by the RTA.
The reason behind the accident was the solid height barrier and its positioning. The sun at the time of the accident [5pm] blurred the signboards to the driver. The confession of the driver is not enough to convict him, Al Sabri told the judge.
Last week, prosecutor Salah Bu Farousha Al Felasi, director of Traffic Prosecution, said the driver couldn't follow the signboards as the sun shade had obstructed his view.
He admitted to lowering the sun shade and didn't notice the signboards or warning signs, despite having used the road several times before the accident, said Al Felasi.
His reckless driving, not paying attention to the road and his speeding, caused the disaster, he added.
The verdict in the case is expected on July 11, while the defendant will remain under police custody.
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Mamata demands PM's apology over 'Bankim da' remark in Lok Sabha
Cooch Behar (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he has insulted novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay by calling him "Bankim da".
Addressing a rally in Cooch Behar district, Banerjee said the PM was not even born when the country achieved Independence and yet chose to address one of Bengal's greatest cultural icons casually.
"You did not even show him the minimum respect he deserves. You should apologise for this, to the nation," she said.
The flashpoint was PM's reference to the author during a discussion in Lok Sabha on Monday to commemorate 150 years of the national song, Vande Mataram, written by Chattopadhyay.
TMC MP Saugata Roy objected to the use of the suffix 'da' and urged the PM to say 'Bankim babu' instead.
Modi immediately accepted the sentiment, saying, "I will say Bankim 'babu'. Thank you, I respect your sentiments," and asked in a lighter vein whether he could still address Roy as 'dada'.
Targeting the BJP, Banerjee claimed that it will destroy Bengal's culture, language and heritage if it comes to power in the state.
She also claimed that the assembly elections in the state will be declared soon after publication of the final electoral rolls following the SIR exercise, so that no one can challenge it in court.
