Sandstorm Results in 354 Traffic Accidents
DISRUPTIVE: The sandstorm over Riyadh on Wednesday disrupted life and caused traffic accidents. (AN photo)
There were 354 traffic accidents that caused eight injuries during Wednesday night’s sandstorm in the capital, the Riyadh Traffic Department said Friday.
Col. Hassan bin Saleh Al-Hassan, head of the city’s command and control center, said there were 18 collisions that resulted in the injuries, and no fatalities. Several vehicles were damaged because of these accidents, he said.
“Lack of visibility and traffic congestion were the main causes of these accidents,” Al-Hassan said. The center received 4,156 calls from motorists until 9 p.m. on Wednesday, which were passed to field teams deployed in 265 locations.
Al-Hassan said the relatively low number of accidents was a result of the greater awareness of drivers in the wake of public alerts issued by the traffic department about the sandstorm and driving conditions.
The eight-hour sandstorm also resulted in the disruption of incoming and outgoing flights from King Khaled International Airport (KKIA), which remained closed for more than seven hours. The airport cleared its runaway for landing only at 4 a.m. on Thursday.
On Thursday night, Riyadh-bound flights that had been diverted to neighboring countries arrived at KKIA, while others left the airport with their passengers. The airlines that were diverted to neighboring countries included British Airways, SriLankan Airlines, Lufthansa, Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines. Saudi Arabian Airlines flights to Hyderabad and Chennai were delayed.
An airline manager who wished to remain anonymous told Arab News that the airport authorities gave first preference to stranded passengers. “They were at the airport for more than 24 hours and were growing impatient. The authorities took the right decision to reschedule their flights, giving preference to the delayed flights,” he said.
Thursday’s regular flights were delayed to allow the stranded passengers to leave. However, regular flights were only a few hours behind schedule, he said.
Meanwhile, car washers had a field day on Thursday cleaning vehicles caked with dust and dirt. Although the service stations did not raise their prices for cleaning cars, the workers, mainly Yemenis and Bangladeshis charged as much as SR20 to wash a car.