Deadly Al Ain bus crash families told compensation may be paid in September

Almost 18 months of the UAE's deadliest road accident, in which 21 people were killed, the families of the bereaved have been told they may finally get some compensation on September 24.

Trucks pass by the scene of a traffic accident on February 4, 2013 involving a truck and a bus full of laborers that left 22 people dead about 35km from Al Ain on the Abu Dhabi - Al Ain road. Silvia RShow more

AL AIN // The long wait for compensation may soon be over for families of the victims of the UAE’s deadliest road accident.

The Court of Appeal is to rule on the Dh4.2 million case on September 24, more than 18 months after the crash in Al Ain on February 4 last year.

The victims – 19 from Bangladesh, one from India and one from Egypt – died when a bus carrying 45 labourers from their accommodation to their workplace collided with a lorry.

Four months later Al Ain Court of First Instance found the lorry driver responsible and ordered a payment of Dh200,000 to each of the victims’ families.

The driver and his insurance company appealed, and the Court of Appeal will make its decision in September.

Recompense for the loss of their loved ones cannot come soon enough for the families. Many are suffering financial hardship after the death of their breadwinners.

Mohammed Hannan, a Bangladeshi expatriate who lost his brother, Burhanuddin, 27, said: “I don’t know what’s happening. I just called the embassy to find out but nothing so far reached us.

“If I get compensation, I can do some business as it’s very difficult to finance all expenses of the family from my small salary of Dh1,200 a month,” said Mr Hannan, who has lived in the UAE for four years.

Although he regularly sends money back home to his parents, brother and sister, his family “is in a very difficult situation back home”.

Mohamed Nizam Dullah, 44, lost his brother-in-law, Sirajul Islam, 45, in the accident. Mr Islam was a father of two, with a seven-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son in Bangladesh.

Mr Dullah says it is a struggle to support his brother-in-law’s family from his own income.

“We collect money among our friends and send it to my sister,” said Mr Dullah, who has lived in Al Ain for 25 years.

“I work in the same company as Sirajul in Al Ain. When I asked the company, it told me to find it from the embassy. But the embassy says nothing happened so far.”

“You can imagine what would be the situation for someone who is living without a husband’s support and bringing up two children,” said Mr Dullah.

Latiful Haq Kazmi, the labour counsellor at the Bangladesh embassy in Abu Dhabi, said: “It’s very natural to understand the grievances of the families who lost their breadwinners. Survival for them is very hard. All the time they call the mission to inquire about developments.”

Mr Kazmi said some charities had approached the embassy, but financial help had not reached the families.

The Bangladesh embassy filed 16 cases to Al Ain Court after receiving power of attorney letters from the Bangladeshi families.

Three more relatives of the victims who live in the UAE filed cases themselves.

Mr Kazmi was hopeful the compensation claim would finally be decided on September 24.

“The embassy is in constant touch with the court and awaiting the final ruling,” he said.”

The Bangladesh embassy has promised the insurance company they will not file a civil case if the compensation is paid, he said.

“We are waiting until that time to see whether the insurance company deposits the money to the court.”