Highway crash kills at least 22 Asian workers in UAE

A concrete truck on Monday slammed into a bus transporting Asian workers near Al-Ain city in the United Arab Emirates, killing 22 of them and injuring 24 others, police said. In the rush-hour accident, the truck crashed into the bus carrying 46 Asian workers and ended up on top of it, Gen. Hussein Al-Harithi, director of Abu Dhabi traffic police, told WAM state news agency. Harithi said the accident could have been caused by faulty brakes and failure to leave a safe distance between vehicles. Twenty-four people were injured, at least five critically, officials from two hospitals in Al-Ain said. The police did not disclose the nationalities of the dead, but Dubai-based Gulf News daily reported they were mostly from Bangladesh. The per capita death toll on UAE roads is among the highest in the world, according to World Health Organization data. The UAE is a federation made up of seven emirates that include trade and tourism hub Dubai and oil-rich Abu Dhabi. The UAE, which has a total population of more than eight million, is host to millions of foreign workers, mostly from South Asia.