ABU DHABI // Police urged drivers yesterday to take extra care as seasonal mist and heavy fog make driving conditions hazardous.
Ten people were hurt in road accidents in Abu Dhabi yesterday morning, including an Arab woman who was severely injured. The crashes happened in heavy fog on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai road near Al Smeih bridge.
There were no serious accidents in Dubai.
The fog was heaviest at Hameem in Al Gharbia and the Al Ain-Abu Dhabi road from as early as 2.30am yesterday. "Visibility was 100 metres and less," a spokesman at the National Centre of Meteorology & Seismology said.
Conditions are expected to improve later in the week but there will be fog and mist again today, with visibility dropping to less than one kilometre.
"This is the fog season, we want everyone to be alert when driving," said Col Mohamed Nasser Al Baloushi, head of the highway traffic department at Abu Dhabi Police.
"We are warning drivers in the next few days to expect fog at any time. It is the biggest danger on the roads," he said.
"People see the fog, yet they speed as if driving a plane, as if there are no other cars on the road. What would happen if there was suddenly a car in front of them? Two cars last week were recorded to be driving at 255kph, and another at 240kph. Imagine a car going that fast.
"There are signs everywhere, maybe they are not being read. The police are doing their jobs, they are working day and night - radars are working day and night."
Traffic police increased patrols when the fog came down and equipment is standing ready to move damaged vehicles off the roads quickly, Col Al Baloushi said.
At Abu Dhabi International Airport one Etihad Airways flight to Dammam was cancelled and others were delayed or diverted.
"Fog meant that eight flights were diverted to neighbouring airports; one to Sharjah, one to Doha, three to Dubai and three to Muscat," Etihad said.
By yesterday evening, all the passengers had made it to Abu Dhabi.
The President, Sheikh Khalifa, urged Muslims to perform rain prayers in mosques on Friday.
The prayers will be performed at 8am "in accordance with Prophet Mohammed's tradition to seek showers from Allah in times of need", said Wam, the state news agency.
osalem@thenational.ae
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
Book%20Details
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
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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
