DUBAI: The city lost yet another child in a balcony fall. This time tragedy struck a three-year-old Indian girl, Preethi Prasad. Her family had relocated to the UAE from Singapore just days earlier.
She and her elder sister had secured admissions to Kindergarten Starters in Garhoud in KG1 and grade 4 and had started school just last month while the family was still housed temporarily at the Dunes Hotel Apartments on Oud Metha Road.
According to a statement released by the school, the girl fell from the 11th floor balcony of the building last Thursday evening, apparently when her mother had fallen asleep.
The family moved to the nearby Al Waleed Palace hotel apartments on Friday, XPRESS has learnt.
The exact circumstances of the girl’s death remain unclear as the devastated father, Guru Prasad, refused to divulge any details when contacted.
“No one is to be blamed as it was my fault,” he said the night before the family was due to return to India for the child’s last rites. The school also declined to make an official comment saying they didn’t have a consent from the family.
A child’s death takes a profound physical and emotional toll on parents – more so if it’s caused because of their negligence.XPRESS has in the past run several campaigns, pushing for construction of safer balconies, but our greater concern has always been for kids left alone to play.
Parents must understand that child safety is not a one-time task, it’s an ongoing activity.
At the start of last year, the number of people falling off balconies in the UAE was two a month.
