Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - Saturday, August 9th 2014 [ME NewsWire]

A 5 years old Bangladeshi child fell from the window of his family’s residence located on the first floor of an apartment building in Hamdan Street in Abu Dhabi. The child was immediately rushed to the hospital where he is listed in stable condition.

Major General Nasser Lakhrebani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Office of HH Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Higher Committee for Child Protection at the Ministry of Interior, expressed his deep regret for the unfortunate recurrence of such accidents. He stressed the role of parents in ensuring that safety requirements are met at their homes and children’s play areas to prevent such tragic accidents. He wished the child a quick recovery.

He urged families of different nationalities living in high-rise buildings to take the necessary safety precautions to curb home accidents involving children, as they are the main cause of child injuries, especially falling from balconies, which claims the lives of children at a very young age.

Major General Al Nuaimi cited examples of previous similar accidents that claimed the lives of children, such as falling from balconies; burning to death after being left unattended inside the car with the motor running; as well as an accident that claimed the life of a two-year old child and a 28-year old Arab woman in a fire that broke out in Al Jimi area in the city of Al Ain.

He also gave examples of a 4-year old child of Gulf nationality who died after sustaining burns in various parts of his body, when a fire completely engulfed his family home in the area of Julfar in Ras Al Khaimah; theft of a vehicle with a one-month old infant on board in Sharjah, and most recently, death of a 5-year old child who succumbed to the injuries he sustained after falling from the window of an apartment building in Al Khalidya, in Abu Dhabi. He pointed that caring for children and protecting them from potential risks is an enormous responsibility that parents should never take lightly.

He also pointed that developing safety and prevention protocols, as well as well as installing child-proof systems to protect children from falling, are a part of the initiatives that the Higher Committee for Child Protection, represented by the Ministry’s Child Protection Center, is endeavoring to implement.

Major General Al Nuaimi stated  that there are two kinds of regulations;  preventive, focusing on raising awareness and seeking to engage the concerned entities in enforcing building regulations and  design requirements, and installing safety systems to protect children from falling from windows and balconies. Another aspect of control is procedural; it involves response procedures as part of the initiatives to develop a system of accurate description and geographical dimensions of accidents’ locations. This supports the accuracy and details of the relevant statistics.

Adding further, he noted, “Unattended children suffocating inside a car is clear evidence of family negligence and poor judgment of the potential dangers involved.” He stressed the need to increase the scope of family responsibility by reviewing their decisions when choosing furniture and children’s toys, which proved to be a major cause of the fires and accidental suffocation accidents that occurred recently.

He added that the Ministry of Interior deeply regrets such tragic accidents, which recently claimed the lives of children and led to serious injuries.  He also stressed the importance of concerted efforts to promote child protection.

He underscored the Supreme Committee’s keenness to follow up on these incidents, which demonstrate parents’ negligence and carelessness in caring for their children, as well as their poor judgment of the potential dangers involved. Moreover, he called upon parents to be cautious and vigilant so as to avoid the risks posed by the seasonal accidents, which occur mostly during summer months.   For his part, Lt Col Faisal Al Shimmari, Director of the Ministry of Interior’s Child Protection Centre, urged parents to assume their responsibility towards their children, and to enforce safety requirements. He also pointed out the need to take safety precautions to curb domestic incidents, especially children falling from windows.   Furthermore, he indicated that the competent judicial authorities determine the responsibility of the parents about the harm sustained by their children, and whether there was negligence on their part. He said, “Article (349) of the Federal Penal Code stipulates: Whoever, by himself or by means of others, endangers a juvenile under fifteen years of age, or a person unable to protect himself due to his health, mental or psychological condition, shall be punished by detention for a period not exceeding two years,” he added.   Elaborating on the details of the accident, Colonel Saeed Dalmouj Al Dhaheri, Director of Al Madina Police Station, affiliated to the Capital Police Directorate, indicated that the Operations Room at Abu Dhabi Police received a call from the child's father at half past midnight, about his child falling from the apartment building’s window. It is noteworthy that the window has a traditional opening and closing mechanism, and opens fully on one side. Police teams were immediately dispatched to the accident scene. “Investigations with the child's father indicated that as he returned home from work, he saw his child sticking his head from the first floor window. Seconds later, he was shocked to see his child falling from the bedroom window and hitting the ground. The father did not wait for the ambulance to arrive and immediately rushed his child to the hospital where he is listed in stable condition. Investigations also showed that the child's mother was in the kitchen at the time of the accident, and was alerted by the janitor,” noted Colonel Al Dhaheri.  

Colonel Al Dhaheri warned families against neglecting their children and leaving them unattended; stressing the need to close all windows tightly. He also called upon them to keep any dangerous object away from children to ensure their safety. He added that investigations are still underway to uncover the circumstances of the accident.

It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Interior’s Child Protection Center had developed a set of guidelines and tips for children’s safety around the home.  These guidelines highlighted the importance of surveillance of children when they approach windows and making sure to close windows tightly. These guidelines also call for installing metal bars on  windows, with adequate spacing to prevent children from slipping through them and falling, and which are provided with a safe release mechanism to allow an escape in case of an emergency.

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The Arabic-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the Arabic-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.

Contacts

The UAE Minister of Interior's General Secretariat, Tactical Affairs and Security Media Department

Abu Dhabi Police GHQ - Security Media

Chris Cron +971-(0)-50-987-1317

E-mail: cron.media@hotmail.com

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