Fire crews extinguished a fire at the Expo 2020 site that broke out on May 11. Courtesy: Expo 2020
Fire crews extinguished a fire at the Expo 2020 site that broke out on May 11. Courtesy: Expo 2020
Fire crews extinguished a fire at the Expo 2020 site that broke out on May 11. Courtesy: Expo 2020
Fire crews extinguished a fire at the Expo 2020 site that broke out on May 11. Courtesy: Expo 2020

Dubai police confirm the cause of Expo 2020 fire that broke out last month


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Investigations into last month's fire at the Expo 2020 site discovered that a construction worker and an engineer have been hiding the truth about the cause of the blaze.

The fire was sparked after an accident during welding work at a debris-laden part of the site on May 11.

Dubai police said on Friday that a team of experts have succeeded in re-enacting the Expo 2020 fire scenario 12 times with "complete accuracy and professionalism", to reveal the main reason behind the fire.

The scientific experiments found that a sudden defect occurred during the welding of two pipes at the site which caused the fire.

“The welding work caused the temperature inside the tube to rise above 350°C which led to an internal ignition on the day of the accident,” said Major General Dr Ahmad Al Mansouri, Director of the General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology at Dubai Police.

Police said that both the construction worker and the engineer had denied performing any welding work on the day of the accident but experts managed to confirm that they were hiding the truth about the cause of the fire to evade responsibility.

“The fire experts and the criminal investigation team results showed that the welder, who works at the company executing the project, was carrying out his regular work tasks at the site and was welding two pipes when the technical fault occurred and made him stop the work,” said the police.

“He then restored the equipment back in the designated room, without following the safety procedures required in this situation."

It was also found that the worker then went to the bathroom, and within five minutes he noticed the site was being evacuated, because of the fire, so he went to the engineer in charge.

“The worker informed the engineer about the technical fault that occurred while welding the pipes and that he was not following the safety procedures,” said the police in the statement.

“The engineer asked him not to inform anyone of the defect, because there was no witness to his welding process, and therefore there is no need to involve himself and the company in the fire incident.”

Major General Dr Al Mansouri said that fire experts immediately began to inspect the cause of blaze, which started on the basement level, during the days following the extinguishing of the fire.

“Experiments have been conducted inside and outside the pipe to know the cause of the fire as the possible causes of such fires are either from cigarettes or through direct flame, the basement lights or a rise in the temperature of the pipe connectors,” he said.

“Based on the results, the fire started from inside the pipe and was caused by welding work, which the worker confirmed later on."

Expo 2020 Dubai has been delayed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The world fair's governing body in May approved plans for the emirate to host the event from October 1, 2021, until March 31, 2022, with the occasion to retain its Expo 2020 title.

The decision was confirmed after two thirds of Bureau International des Expositions member states voted in favour of the delay in light of the challenges posed to the international community by the Covid-19 outbreak.

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.

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Church of South Indian Parish

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St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais

Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais

 

If you go

The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road. 

The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
 

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'Young girls thinking of big ideas'

Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.

“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”

In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.

“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”

Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.

“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”

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Scorecard:

England 458 & 119/1 (51.0 ov)

South Africa 361

England lead by 216 runs with 9 wickets remaining

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Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent

Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent

Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent

Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent

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Ibrahim's play list

Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute

Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc

Apart from the piano, he plays the accordion, oud and guitar

His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach

Also enjoys listening to Mozart

Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz

Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica 

Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil

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Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello

Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)

Player Career Award: Ronaldinho

Yahya Al Ghassani's bio

Date of birth: April 18, 1998

Playing position: Winger

Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda

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• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition

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Director: Mahdi Fleifel

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Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:

Ajax 2-3 Tottenham

Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate

Final: June 1, Madrid

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In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.

 

There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.

 

More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.

 

The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.

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Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
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Jewel of the Expo 2020

252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome

13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas

550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome

724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses

Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa

Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site

The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants

Al Wasl means connection in Arabic

World’s largest 360-degree projection surface

Key figures in the life of the fort

Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.

Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.

Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae