A property owner in the UAE’s Al Ain was ordered by a Dubai court to pay AED 125,000 as compensation to the mother of a seven-year-old boy who drowned in an underground water tank in a residential community. The incident happened last March when the child, who was playing, fell into the unsecured water tank.
An earlier report identified the child as Issa, son of an imam and Quran teacher at the local mosque. The child was playing with his sister in their house compound when the accident happened. The boy’s father told Arabic newspaper Al Khaleej that the children’s mother had been keeping a watch over them but she lost sight of them for minutes when the boy fell into the hole. The mother was alerted by the daughter’s screaming. Though the neighbours rushed to fish the boy out of the tank, he had died by then.
The mother of the child filed a case against the property owner seeking Dh970,000 in compensation for emotional, moral, and financial damages. In her plea, she accused negligence in securing the backyard and tank opening, according to Khaleej Times. She added that the property owner failed to put up a protective barrier or ensure the tank was secured, which allowed the opening to remain exposed and accessible.
The court ordered an inquiry, and the final technical report suggested that the accident happened due to “insufficient safety controls” in the area, including the tank’s open cover and the absence of adequate supervision. The report stated that proper protection or secure closure would have prevented the tragedy, the report added.
The defendants argued that the matter had been previously adjudicated and that some parties lacked legal standing. However, the court found that the parties named in the earlier case differed from those in the current lawsuit and that the property owner had primary responsibility for safety and maintenance in the tank area.
