Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The National Search and Rescue Centre, in coordination with Dubai Police Operations, rescued on Friday a British and an Australian tourist, aged between 55 and 58, after they failed to descend from the Hatta mountains in the emirate of Dubai due to exhaustion.

The Dubai Police Operations Room sent a report alerting that two climbers were stuck in the mountains of the Hatta. The report pointed out that three people descended safely from the top of the mountain, but two of the team failed due to extreme exhaustion.

The Operations room team of the National Search and Rescue Centre spotted the location of the victims, and a team headed to it on the Search and Rescue copter, where, in coordination with Dubai Police Operations, they transferred the injured to Hatta Hospital in Dubai to receive the necessary treatment, taking into account all the precautionary and preventive measures related to the coronavirus.

Last week, the National Search and Rescue Centre rescued an Emirati man, 42, seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and who was unable to move in Suwaihan desert, Abu Dhabi.

The NSRC and police hurried to the man's aid after his location was traced in coordination with Abu Dhabi Police. The injured was airlifted to Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City for treatment, while considering all COVID-19 guidelines.

Last month, three UAE citizens rescued seven tourists after they got stuck and stranded on a high-altitude mountain (about 1,800 metres above sea level) on Friday. They reportedly got lost on rugged mountain paths.

The brave men who rescued the tourists were Abdulaziz Ahmad Mansour Al Shehhi, 47, Mohammed Abdullah Khamis Al Shehhi, 35, and Mohammad Saeed Shahbar Al Shehhi, 30, all from Wadi Ghalila. Abdulaziz Al Shehhi, who led the rescue team, said the stranded tourists were four men and three women, from Lebanon, Turkey, Iran and Portugal.

He explained that the tourists' journey began at 7 am last Friday, as they were heading to Wadi Ghalila 35 km north of Ras Al Khaimah to practise hiking. Abdulaziz and his companions found the seven tourists stranded in a mountain site called "Al Kabs", at an altitude of about 1,800 metres.

This was after the people of Wadi Ghalilah had received information about tourists being stranded at about 8pm. “We took the initiative to rescue the tourists voluntarily, after we learned about the incident through a “social media group” of the people of the region,” Abdulaziz added. The rescue operation continued for about four hours, in communication and coordination with the Ras Al Khaimah Police, who were at the site.