Highway of Death

Highway of Death. Gulf News team on the deadly road to Salalah See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00I've just returned from a three-day trip to Oman, travelling about 2,800 km, mainly

00:13on the Dubai-Salalah road.

00:14I wanted to find out why so many holidaymakers from the UAE were dying on this highway, which

00:19leads to the resort town of Salalah on the southern tip of Oman.

00:23Last year about a thousand lives were lost in traffic accidents across the Sultanate.

00:26In August, during the Eid holidays and Karif, the monsoon festival, 56 people were killed

00:32on the roads within the short span of a week.

00:34The accident that shocked the nation occurred 40 km from Salalah, at a scenic spot called

00:39Al-Maksail Bay overlooking the Arabian Sea.

00:42Seven members of the Al-Kabi family from Al Ain died in an accident when they were hit

00:46by a truck.

00:47The Omani authorities are now seriously planning to tackle the road accidents and will soon

00:51install radars on many of the roads.

00:54The 1,000 km road is at places under repair, in many spots there are camel and sheep crossings.

00:59The drive is deadly boring, for miles there is nothing but the stark desert landscape.

01:03Despite these conditions, it seems driver errors are causing most accidents.

01:07Many of the motorists try to make it to Salalah direct from Dubai without a night stopover,

01:12and many tired motorists make the fatal split-second mistake that continues to cost so many lives.

01:17Mahmood Sabri, Gulf News.

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