SHARJAH // Four men plunged six storeys to their deaths yesterday after a maintenance cradle they were working from collapsed. Three of the men died at the scene outside Ansar Mall in Sharjah. A fourth man succumbed to his injuries later in intensive care in Kuwait Hospital. The deaths of the workers, who were apparently not wearing safety harnesses, triggered calls for greater safety in the construction industry. The team was erecting an advertising banner for a new restaurant when the accident happened at around 3.30am.
Officials from the mall said the men worked for Al Reyami Signs and Advertising, and the company had authorisation from the municipality to erect the advertisement. A witness, Walid Ahmed, working at Al Farrooj Restaurant at the time, said: "We heard a loud noise of people falling and then a silence, there were no cries, no calls for help. "Four workers were lying on the ground in silence, only one was bleeding. It was clear they were dead," he said, adding that the police arrived moments later.
Safety experts said it was unlikely the dead men could have been wearing "lifeline" safety harnesses. Brian Florance, the operations manager of Malt Techniques, which installs and manages cradles in Dubai, said: "In a normal cradle, they have two people and independent safety points. The cradle is attached to the structure and they are attached independently to the structure." The cradle was owned by Al Binaya Construction, but rented out to V8 Advertising, which had leased the equipment to Al Reyami. Mohammed Salim, a manager of Al Binaya Construction, was among those questioned yesterday by the police. He told The National: "In the first place, I rented the cradle to V8 Advertising and I don't know about Al Reyami. "After getting the cradle they have to call a safety company and inspect it as well as the place [it is to be used] and receive a safety certificate." He said he was "100 per cent sure" the cradle was in good condition. Abdul Rashid Baloti, the operations manager at V8 Advertising, said he had worked only as a "middle man" between the construction company and Al Reyami, which had approached him seeking a cradle. "I have nothing to do with the safety procedures," he said. "Al Reyami is responsible for the safety of its workers." Al Reyami officials turned down a request to comment on the fatal fall, stating only that the deaths were being investigated by police. Imad Jamal, the vice chairman of the Higher Technical Committee for the UAE Contractors Association, a nonprofit organisation that promotes safety in the construction industry, said there was "a lot" of room for safety improvement, especially among smaller operators. "You have to categorise the practice and standards between the big companies versus the smaller contractors. They vary and differ from each other in so many ways," he said. Hamid al Mansouri, the general manager of Ansar Mall, said the workers had shown mall administrators their authorisation to put up the sign. "I got a call at around 3.30am that there was an accident. I told my security officer to call police immediately, and by the time I arrived at the scene, police were already there," he said. Abdul Razak Bakar, the manager of Salkara Restaurant that commissioned the sign, said all the correct procedures had been followed. He said: "We opened the restaurant just three days back and we needed a signpost to advertise our presence. We need everything to be done in the right way." Mr Florance said: "They might not have been aware of the weight of the signage." "That cradle could have been overloaded but there should be safety devices on the overload devices for the cradle. If it was overloaded, the cradle should not have worked." Jim Falchetto, the general manager of Traks Pro, which trains UAE companies in rope access safety, said that in the United States anybody working above two metres must be attached to an independent structure. "They have to be attached to an independent lifeline. If the cradle goes, the guy will end up suspended in the air. A cradle would give him and the rescuers a fighting chance to get out of that position. Work-at-height accidents are preventable and the risk is manageable." Sharjah Municipality was unavailable to comment on its safety regulations or the deaths yesterday. With additional reporting by Hugh Naylor and Eugene Harnan ykakande@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
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Celtic Prince, David Liska (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).
7.05pm: Conditions Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Commanding, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
7.40pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Grand Argentier, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m
Winner: Arch Gold, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed Dh265,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
9.25pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Ibn Malik, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
10pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
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
Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQureos%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E33%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESoftware%20and%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%243%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
