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A construction worker died yesterday, with his colleagues claiming he might have survived had they been able to call ambulances. Mobile phone services were down during the massive power cut in Dubai and the worker's colleagues said they could not call for help. The 21-year-old Indian fell from a building under construction at about 11.05am. A source from Rashid Hospital said: "The worker suffered major head injuries. He had been bleeding from the nose and ear ... "It seems his colleagues were trying to call the ambulance, but unfortunately the mobile phone services were not working at that time. They arranged to bring him to the hospital in a private car, but by the time they arrived, the worker died. "This was the only major case we received. We did not receive any major traffic accident cases. We had a high emergency situation at the hospital. "We have a power generator which supplies the ICU, the respiratory machines and the cardiology section. This generator was also supplying the emergency lights in the hospital. "We had only one x-ray machine working on this generator, and thus we could not take any non-emergency case except for the major cases." The source said that the hospital morgue and other critical sections had full power supply. "We also had two resuscitation rooms prepared for any multi-trauma cases. We were well prepared for any contingency." At a clinic in Bur Dubai, a patient was trapped in the elevator for more than two hours before he was rescued by the watchman.  Asghar Khan/Gulf News A man directs traffic at the Dnata roundabout in Deira during the power failure. |  |
Dr T.P. Ray, director of Dr Ray's Medical Centre in Dubai, said: "Fortunately, this was not an emergency case, otherwise it would have been a disaster. The patient was also not very old, which helped a lot." Dr Ray said the power cut affected the medical centre. "We had one patient on the dental chair and the dentist finished half of the work when the power went off. We also had to cancel all our appointments. We waited for a long time. Luckily we didn't have any serious cases." Dr Abdullah Al Khayatt, Director of Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, said that the power generator at the hospital prevented any disaster. "The generator supplies the ICU, the operation theatres and the incubators. This is very critical because if these incubators did not have power for 30 minutes, all the babies there could have died," he said. He added that all hospitals under Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services have emergency power generators. The Dubai Civil Defence received 25 reports of people getting stuck in the elevators in highrise buildings. Speaking to Gulf News, Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Al Sayegh, acting director of Dubai Civil Defence, said: "This is normal in cases of power cut in any building, and our personnel are well trained to rescue people . Fortunately, we had no major injuries or deaths." Lt Col Al Sayegh added that most of these cases took place in buildings on Al Riqqa and Shaikh Zayed Road. "We got reports mainly from Al Riqqa Road and Shaikh Zayed Road. The victims in these cases also varied from adults to children. We didn't get any suffocation cases." He said no major fires or any other accidents were reported. Traffic police
Swift response helps maintain order on roads
The Dubai Police Operations Department played a major role in organising traffic as the traffic signals went off yesterday. This, along with the fact that traffic movement was less than normal yesterday because it was a Thursday, helped eased the flow. Within a a very short time, the Operations Room deployed policemen and patrols in all the major roads to provide security and discipline traffic flow. Each traffic junction had one policeman. Despite the heat, these policemen stood there were hours ensuring the roads were safe. Lt Col Omar Al Shamsi, director of the Dubai Police Operation Room said: &
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