Six-year-old boy drowns in water tank near family home in Al Ain

A 6-year-old boy, Issa, drowned in a water tank near his family’s house. His mother screamed after seeing her son floating on the surface of the water tank. The deceased had been playing with his younger sister in the presence of their father, who left the place after making sure his two little ones were safe in the yard before heading to work.

Although the scene lasted less than an hour, it was packed with many heartbreaking details about the loss of their child, as recounted by the grieving father of the child, who was in the first grade at Mohammed Bin Khalid School.

“I was with my children, Issa and his sister Maryam, who were playing in front of the house, during the time between Asr and Maghrib prayers. As the time to go to work approached, I brought them into the courtyard of the house, closed the door, and left,” the grieving father said.

The child’s father, who works as an imam and Quran teacher, added: “Less than an hour later, I was surprised by a call from his mother screaming that Issa had died. Her words struck my heart before they reached my ears like a thunderbolt. I rushed home to find the neighbours telling me that he had been taken to the hospital. When I arrived there, I found that my little boy, Issa, had passed away.”

His mother, whose tears were mixed with visible pain in her eyes, said: After their father left the house, Issa and his sister continued playing indoors and then they moved to play outdoors. During that time, I used to have a look at them almost every 5 minutes but the last time I was surprised to hear his sister shouting, “Mama, Issa fell into the hole.”

After a long silence, as if recalling the details of her journey from the house to the scene of the accident, she said: “It was hard to believe what my little daughter said and thought that words were not enough for her to explain what happened to her brother. She immediately rushed ahead of me and I quickly followed her, hoping that what she had reported was not true. When she pointed to the scene of the accident, and I saw my child floating in the tank, I screamed in pain and the neighbors rushed to the scene. Issa was taken to the hospital by ambulance, where he was pronounced dead.”