DUBAI // A labourer was killed when his head was crushed by a brick-making machine, a court heard today.
Tulasi Prasad, 28, from Nepal, got his head stuck in the machine after reaching inside to fix some wires. His skull was crushed and his spinal cord broken when a colleague turned the machine on, not realising he was there.
Prosecutors told the Misdemeanours Court that it was MM, 22, a Bangladeshi, who flipped the switch on May 3 last year.
"Seconds before I turned on the machine, Tulasi was about two meters away from it," recalled the worker. He said he then left the machine briefly and when he returned he noticed his colleague's body sticking out from it, dripping blood across the floor.
"I was so horrified by what I saw that I fainted," added the worker.
The men were working for Royal Concrete Products, a manufacturer and supplier of concrete masonry and filler based in Al Quoz. Shortly before the death their supervisor SS, 25, from India, had asked Mr Prasad and MM to change the brick mould in the machine.
"They did so successfully," said the supervisor. However, when he went to check on them later he found one man dead and the other unconscious.
Supervisor BB, 27, from India, was also called to investigate. "I went to check on the matter and found out that [MM] turned on the machine while Mr Prasad was inside."
All three men, along with the company's head of safety ST, 53, from India, denied charges of mistakenly causing the death of the worker.
The safety head said the accident was the fault of the dead man. "His job was to mix concrete but not to fix the brick moulding machine, and he knew this," said the safety head.
The court acquitted BB but convicted the other three.
MM and ST were ordered to jointly pay the blood money of Dh200,000 to the family of Mr Prasad.
MM was also sentenced to six months in prison to be followed by deportation and fined Dh2,000. ST was sentenced to a three-month suspended jail term and fined Dh5,000.
SS was sentenced to a six-month suspended jail term and fined Dh5,000.
salamir@thenational.ae
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Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
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The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
The info
Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
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The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed PDK
Power: 630bhp
Torque: 820Nm
Price: Dh683,200
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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
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Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
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Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
Specs
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Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
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CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
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- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
if you go
The flights
Emirates offer flights to Buenos Aires from Dubai, via Rio De Janeiro from around Dh6,300. emirates.com
Seeing the games
Tangol sell experiences across South America and generally have good access to tickets for most of the big teams in Buenos Aires: Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente. Prices from Dh550 and include pick up and drop off from your hotel in the city. tangol.com
Staying there
Tangol will pick up tourists from any hotel in Buenos Aires, but after the intensity of the game, the Faena makes for tranquil, upmarket accommodation. Doubles from Dh1,110. faena.com
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
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TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
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Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
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UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”