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Abu Dhabi: A five-year-old girl plunged to her death from the second floor of her home apartment building on Wednesday, police have confirmed.
The girl, an Arab national identified only as S.Z, was playing in a room with a balcony that overlooks the street when the fatal accident occurred.
Ambulance crew, rescue officials and patrolling officers rushed to the accident site soon after the police were notified, and the child was taken to hospital. However she failed to survive, officials said. Criminal Investigation Department officials visited the scene to investigate the death.
Conveying his deep regret, Mohammed Hamad Al Badi, Director of Al Ain Police said that the incident ‘clearly reflects the neglect on the part of the parents’ to leave the child by herself in the open balcony. He appealed to parents to adhere to safety procedures and exercise caution. He added that in such apartments, safety measures such as metal barriers should be installed to prevent such accidents from happening.
Alarmingly, the number of child deaths and injuries has been on the rise. At least 6,146 children were involved in various accidents between 2001 and 2007. In fact, the numbers were so pressing that the police organised a comprehensive awareness campaign earlier this year to highlight child safety.
The number of children injured in accidents rose from 81 in 2001 to 1,662 in 2007.
Fatalities
Figures from the Ministry of Health suggest that 13 per cent of all deaths recorded from 2000 to 2005 were children, which is more than that recorded in other counties, such as the UK and Sweden. Notably, 55 per cent of child deaths were due to traffic accidents, while 13 per cent where due to choking, 8 per cent due to falling from buildings, 5 per cent due from burning and 1 per cent due to poisoning.
Tragic reminders
Five year old Ahmad Salem, an Egyptian boy home alone on the 10th floor of a building, plunged to his death after reaching out and opening a window from a sofa. His parents where out shopping when it happened on April 1.
On March 24, Hadi Abdullah Awad, a six-year-old Emirati boy, drowned after he accidentally slipped and fell into a 3m deep pit filled with water.
In another incident on April 24, four-year-old Indian boy Aatish Shabin, died after being left locked inside his school bus for three hours. Investigations revealed that the boy died of internal illness and not due to suffocation.
Despite no legal action against anyone, their untimely deaths remain tragic reminders of non-compliance of safety procedures.
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