Mohammad Ali

Recently the news of the Patel family crash came in the papers. The Patels, an Indian family of four, were taking a U-Turn on Al Khawaneej Road when their car was hit by a speeding national (4WD, 150kph). Both cars burst into flames and the whole Patel family died on the spot.

The son, Mohammad Ali Patel, was a Grade 7 student of my school. I was shocked to here the news. I had heard of so many deaths on Dubai's Roads, but now it really hit me. Someone I had been close to, someone I had seen, had become a victim of Dubai's roads. Suddenly I felt the real danger out there.

After hearing this news, I wondered how his friends at school must be feeling. I wondered how it must be for them to just have one of their friends disappear. Then I thought how it could happen to me.

All this while I had looked at the road statistics, but then they were just numbers. Now they were real people. They could even be people I knew. I thought how I would feel if I lost one of my friends to a car crash, which was entirely possible. I thought of them driving around Dubai in their small cars with all those mad drivers around them. It was like seeing a close friend being dropped into a tank full of sharks.

For now I pray that Mohammad Ali rests in peace. He was only 12. He had many ambitions. All that is gone because of a car crash. In seconds, the whole family has vanished from this world.

His young sister Sanaa , who was only nine, also died in the accident. I wonder how it must be for her friends.

I pray that it never happens to me.

The Gulf News article on the crash is at http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/10/27/10077798.html. The National who hit the Patels suffered severe burns and is undergoing treatment, though we can all guess what kind of punishment he will get.