RAK crash blamed on tyre pressure, speed

ras al khaimah — The 4WD vehicle that flipped over in Ras Al Khaimah late on Friday and claimed the lives of four boys aged 10 to 18 was being driven at 150kmph at the time of the crash, investigations have showed. The 20-year-old driver also hit the road without adjusting the tyre pressure that was lowered earlier that day for desert driving, police said.

The seven boys from an Emirati family had gone camping in the desert. “They reduced the tyre pressure to ease their vehicle’s movement on the sand,” said Col Mohammed Al Bahhar, head of traffic investigations and control, RAK Police.

“The 20-year-old inexperienced driver drove at a high speed on the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road. Due to the speed, one of the tyres burst, after which the vehicle flipped over several times.”

Three Emiratis and a Pakistani who was yet to obtain an Emirati citizenship were killed in the crash. They were identified as Ibrahim Ali Abdullah, 18; Abdullah Hassan Abdullah, 10; Manea Nasser Al Yaqubi, 10; and Ibrahim Ali Abbas, 18.

Three others — Ahmed Hassan Abdullah, 13; Hamad Ali Abdullah, 13; and the driver, Saeed Hassan Abdullah, 20 — were injured.

Seven ambulances and two police patrols rushed to the site, but the four boys had been killed on the spot. Col Al Bahhar said the bodies were handed over to the families. They were laid to rest at Al Heil and Al Uraibi cemeteries in Ras Al Khaimah.

The driver had told the police that he was driving at 140kmph. “However, the accident enactment showed that this wasn’t the case. The car flipped over an area of 150 metres, which shows that he was driving at not less than 150kmph. The low tyre pressure — which was 10 in the rear tyres and 20 in the front ones — meant that the car could never have been driven safely on the road,” said Col Al Bahhar.