DUBAI // A leisure boat operator is being treated for serious burns in a resuscitation room at Rashid Hospital after trying to control a blaze that destroyed his vessel yesterday morning.
Christopher Dias, an Indian employee of Nautica 1992 Water Sports, was alone on the eight-seater boat close to the shore near the Skydive Dubai runway when it burst into flames.
A work colleague, Robert Kennedy, who was on another boat, said Mr Dias was "apparently trying to contain the fire, but when it went out of control, he jumped".
Freddy MacDonald, an instructor at Skydive Dubai who provided first aid, said: "We sent a rescue boat after seeing the fire. But he had already managed to get himself to the shore.
"He bravely stayed on the boat for too long."
Mr Dias was airlifted by Dubai Police helicopter to Rashid Hospital suffering from serious burns to his face, legs and hands, where a spokesman described his injuries as "a serious burn case".
He was being treated in a resuscitation room and is expected to recover, the spokesman said.
"I was filling petrol on the other boat near the marina when I saw Chris's boat on fire," said Mr Kennedy.
"He asked me not to bring my boat close since he was worried the fire could spread. I don't know why he took so long to get off the boat."
Firefighters arrived after Mr Dias had leapt from the boat. "It took less than 30 minutes to control and put out the fire," said Lt Yusuf bin Ghalaita, group commander at the Dubai Civil Defence. "The boat was already near the beach when we arrived."
Officials from Nautica 1992 Water Sports said the six-year-old boat had been destroyed.
Suzy Dillon, one of the two owners, said: "It is such a shock. We don't care about the boat. Chris is our main concern. When he comes out of hospital, we are going to be looking after him."
The company regularly takes tourists for fishing, cruising, windsurfing, sailing and other water sport activities.
Nautica 1992 officials said the boat had been inspected a month ago, and its registration had been renewed.
The company halted operations yesterday. "We are not sure when we will be open again," Ms Dillon said.
pkannan@thenational.ae
jthomas@thenational.ae
TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
