At least 12 people have died after their vehicles drifted away in flood waters in Oman on Sunday. The dead include nine students, two residents and an expatriate, according to the National Committee for Emergency Management.
Search is underway for five missing people, as per earlier reports by the Oman News Agency.
Various parts of Oman is inundated after torrential rains that lashed the country resulted in flash floods.
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Earlier, the body of a child was found at Wadi Al Batha in Al Mudhaibi. The body was found by the residents of the area, the Royal Oman Police said in a tweet.
Through the day, following multiple distress calls from people stranded in floodwaters, on roads, subways, schools and residential and commercial buildings, police and their rescue teams were in action.
Even residents pulled out those stranded to safety from many submerged areas. In a video posted on Instagram, people could be seen with children on their backs as others rescued them with a rope. The water was almost till their waist level.
Watch video here:
Meanwhile, Wadi Samad Al Shan witnessed an unprecedented surge in water levels and breached the premises of Rawda School located in the Al Ghazal area, trapping people inside the building. .
Field teams of the Royal Oman Police, the Royal Army of Oman, the Civil Defense Authority and the ambulance moved students from the school to a safer place. Residents also pitched in to move stranded people in their vehicles.
Vehicles parked nearby were swept away by the forceful current. Watch storm.ae video here:
In another instance, police aviation rescued students in a vehicle that drifted in a valley stream in the Samad Al-Shaan district. Some persons were being searched while those rescued have been taken to Ibra Reference Hospital.
Watch video:
The Royal Oman Police also informed about rescue efforts being underway for 20 people stranded in three houses at Wadi bin Khalid, Al Qahm area.
Meanwhile, schools and colleges in Oman have been directed to function in distance mode on Monday, April 15. An order in this regard was issued by the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation on Sunday.