His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, offered his sincere condolences and sympathy to the family and friends of the martyr of the nation, firefighter Jassim Issa Al Balooshi, who was martyred during the Emirates Airline accident at Dubai International Airport Wednesday (Aug 3).

The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) announced that 27-years-old Jassim Issa Al Balooshi lost his life while putting out the fire aboard the Emirates flight and trying to save lives.

Jassim’s funeral took place today (Aug 4) in Ras Al Khaimah and his mortal remains were laid to rest.

Family members expressed pride in their son Jassim who sacrificed his life while performing his duty to save the passengers during the evacuation, reported Emarat Al Youm and Al Bayan newspapers.

Jassim, eldest of five brothers, was always keen to participate in voluntary and charitable act and was nicknamed as Jassim Al Khair (Jassim goodness).

Issa Al Balooshi, the father of the martyr expressed his sadness over the loss of his son but feels proud that his son died serving the country.

“My son died helping people, saving lives, and martyred while performing his duty. I have four other sons all of them are ready to sacrifice for our country,” said Jassim’s father.

He praised the leadership for supporting the family in their hour of loss.

Jassim’s uncle, Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullah, said that his nephew was born in Al Kharan area of Ras Al Khaimah and was always taught to help others.

He added that the martyr has participated in many difficult fire operations in the past.

The younger brother of the martyr, Salman, who works in Dubai Police, said that the tweets of the Rulers about the heroism of his brother and their condolence message has comforted the family.

Emirates jetliner EK521

An Emirates jetliner, EK521, arriving from Thiruvananthapuram, India caught fire after slumping onto the runway in Dubai on Wednesday, bringing the world’s busiest international airport to a halt for several hours.

All  282 passengers and 18 crew were safely evacuated from the Boeing 777-300 after the accident.

The Airline confirmed the news in a statement, “Emirates can confirm that today, 3rd August 2016, flight EK521 travelling from Trivandrum International Airport in Thiruvananthapuram, India, to Dubai has been involved in an accident at Dubai International Airport.

There were 282 passengers and 18 crew on board.

“The Boeing 777 aircraft departed at 10.19am from Trivandrum International Airport and was scheduled to land at 12.50pm at Dubai International Airport.”

“We are in the process of opening our customer assistance line and will share these details soon but at this stage we have no further information on what may have caused the accident. Our priority remains with the passengers and crew involved,” it said.

Flights at Dubai International resumed at 6:30 p.m (1430 GMT) after all arrivals and departures were suspended for over five hours, authorities said.

The plane had undergone maintenance in 2015 and that the United Arab Emirates pilot had over 7,000 hours of flying experience.

It is the first time an aircraft operated by Emirates has been damaged beyond repair since the carrier was founded in the 1980s.

Both the airline and aircraft have a solid safety record.

Source: emirates247.com