Families in India bid farewell to their loved ones on Sunday, after the bodies of those who died in a bus accident last week were flown in from Dubai for the last rites.
Hundreds gathered at homes, cremation and burial grounds across India to pay their respects to people who had made the UAE their home.
Of the 31 passengers on board the bus from Muscat, 17 died of which 12 were Indians.
Many died on the spot on Thursday when the bus crashed into an overhead height restriction sign, tearing through the top left side of the vehicle.
In the southern Indian state of Kerala, where at least eight of the victims lived, families called in doctors to help women in the family cope with the news that their husbands and sons had died.
In Trivandrum city, relatives wept as they filed in to pay their respects to Deepa Kumar, 40, who worked as an accountant in Dubai for 14 years.
His wife, Athira, and their four-year-old daughter, Amulya, survived the crash on Thursday because they sat by the window on the right side of the Oman-registered bus. The family were returning home from their Eid Al Fitr holiday in Muscat.
Immediately after the accident, Kumar showed no external signs of injury but lost consciousness while speaking to his wife inside the bus and never recovered.
The family, concerned for her recovery, only told Athira of her husband’s death after she returned to India. They had originally told her he was in intensive care at Rashid Hospital, where she and her daughter were also treated, and that he would be taken to India for further care.
"She started shivering a lot when we told her my uncle was no more and the doctor gave her a tranquiliser," Kumar's nephew, Abhiraj RK told The National.
“Physically she seems okay, but mentally it will take some time for her to recover. Amulya kissed her father. She is too young to understand what has happened,” he said.
Kumar had last been home in August, during the harvest festival of Onam.
“He was planning to come down again in September for Onam and had just called us to ask what gifts we wanted him to buy for the family,” Mr Abhiraj said.
“No one can accept or understand this. Everyone is depressed. He loved us very much. His biggest dream was to come back to Kerala and spend time with his brothers. That is not to be.”
“He was the backbone of our family,” said Amal Dev, Athira’s cousin.
“Everyone relied on him. His loss is felt very deeply. He was a simple man and he did things for people quietly.”
In another coastal city, Thalassery, about 200 people gathered for the burial of Ummer Chonokadavath and his son Nabil Ummer.
The pair were returning from Oman, where they had spent the Eid break with Ummer’s daughter.
The family broke the news to his wife after her remaining three children were at home by her side.
“We were worried that my aunt’s pressure would go too low when she heard that both her husband and son had died so we only informed her in the doctor’s presence,” said Nahimshad Chonokadavath, Ummer’s nephew.
“Though my uncle’s body came so early this morning from Dubai, there were at least 200 people at his funeral. We buried my uncle very early at 3am because after a major accident we were told the body should not be kept very long. It is a terrible time for our family.”
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More on animal trafficking
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at Mount Maunganui
England 353
Stokes 91, Denly 74, Southee 4-88
New Zealand 144-4
Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Union Berlin (5.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Hertha Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Freiburg (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Monchengladbach (8.30pm)
Sunday
Mainz v Augsburg (5.30pm)
Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (8pm)
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25
4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46
5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48
Women:
1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30
2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01
3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30
4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43
5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- 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
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Dubai Rugby Sevens
November 30, December 1-2
International Vets
Christina Noble Children’s Foundation fixtures
Thursday, November 30:
10.20am, Pitch 3, v 100 World Legends Project
1.20pm, Pitch 4, v Malta Marauders
Friday, December 1:
9am, Pitch 4, v SBA Pirates
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
