DUBAI // A father who watched in horror as his four-year-old son plunged 5.5 metres down an open manhole at Dubai Mall is demanding swift changes to the mall's health and safety regulations to ensure it never happens again.
Shahid Mahmood, a British father of three, was watching a small fountain display on Saturday with his daughter Khadija, six, and Zayn, four, when Zayn fell down the concrete shaft.
The youngster was lucky, receiving only minor injuries - facial bruising and a cut finger - after a ladder broke his fall.
Mr Mahmood believes the manhole cover was removed during the display by a worker who was preparing to carry out routine maintenance on the water feature.
"I turned to see this huge hole behind my son," he said. "I went towards him to get hold of him but he had already stepped back."
The worker was inside the hole getting safety barriers to place around it when the accident happened.
Mr Mahmood wants the mall to exercise tighter control over the safety measures applied by all sub-contractors working on the site.
A statement issued on behalf of the mall said its management team was in regular contact with the family and was running its own investigation into the incident.
Mr Mahmood said an offer by Dubai Mall to pay Zayn's medical expenses was unnecessary.
Describing the moment he saw Zayn fall "like a rag doll" down the hole, he said: "Everything went into slow motion. It was surreal. Your son's fallen down a hole that wasn't there a minute ago."
Luckily a ladder leading to the bottom of the concrete cavern broke the toddler's fall.
"It was fortuitous we were standing that side. If he had fallen from any of the other three sides of the manhole he would have been dead, I'm sure," said Mr Mahmood, 36.
Relieved to hear Zayn scream, he climbed halfway down the manhole while calling out to his wife, Shahnaz - who was sitting just inside the mall entrance with their one-year-old child, Summayyal - and trying to ensure that his daughter Khadija was safe.
"While all this was going on, the worker who was down below proceeded to pick up my son and bring him to the surface," he said. "I could see he was supporting his neck and he seemed OK. He was crying and there was lots of blood."
In the 30 minutes Mr Mahmood said it took for the ambulance to arrive at the scene - apparently it had difficulty reaching the accident spot because of height restrictions - numerous staff from Dubai Mall arrived but no one, he said, appeared to be trained in first aid.
"Once the paramedics arrived they completely took control, putting the neck brace on, asking if he had been vomiting, asking if he felt dizzy, if he was steady on his feet, asking all the right questions."
Zayn was strapped on to a stretcher, given oxygen, attached to heart and blood pressure monitors and taken at the family's request to the American Hospital, where he underwent tests for internal bleeding, brain and spinal injuries.
At 6pm he was given the all-clear and discharged.
Dubai Police are investigating the incident, alongside a health and safety specialist from Dubai Municipality.
Mr Mahmood said he did not want to see the worker lose his job.
"He was just as shocked as anyone and I know he had a part to play within it but I don't see how, in all of this, he could have done anything differently," he said.
"I had to file a case or it would happen to someone else. I asked that the worker is not made a scapegoat, that he retains his job."
Mr Mahmood says he is not interested in compensation. He simply wants assurances that safety regulations will be significantly tightened, also expressing concern about the lack of first-aid knowledge displayed by mall staff and the difficulties the ambulance faced in reaching them. He wants any "damages" that may be deemed appropriate to be donated to a children's charity.
"I feel my son's life has been saved and if someone else's son or daughter's life could be saved then that's the best that I can ask," he said.
A senior member of the worker's sub-contracting firm, which is responsible for maintaining the fountain, arrived at the hospital with his wife to check on Zayn's condition, but no one at the company was available to comment.
loatway@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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
