Sharjah drownings raise safety concerns

A number of deaths due to drowning in and around Sharjah resorts over recent months have led to fears that hotels are failing to impose strict health and safety measures.

In April, Sharjah police issued a warning following the deaths of two people in March.

Police said that people should not enter the water off beaches with safety flags, and holidaymakers in hotels should check there is a lifeguard present.

"The number of accidents is continuing to rise despite constant police warnings. Sharjah Police are taking precautionary measures by adding more warning signs in areas that have witnessed drowning accidents this year," Colonel Abdullah Sultan Al Khayal, director of moral guidance and PR, Sharjah Police said at the time.

However, in August, newspaper Khaleej Times reported that a 36-year-old Egyptian had drowned in front of his wife and children in the swimming pool of a resort in the Buhairah Corniche area of Sharjah.

The man, identified as Kalid Ahmed Hassan, was an employee of the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD) and had come from Abu Dhabi with his family, including wife and three children, to spend the Eid holidays at Marbella Resort hotel.

The family went for a swim at a beach resort in the neighbourhood, also owned by the same hotel. A police spokesman said the family saw the man struggling in the water and tried to pull him out but could not. They called the police but by the time the police rescuers arrived, he had died.

That same week, another Egyptian man died while swimming off Al Khan beach. The incidents were widely criticised and led the local authorities in the emirate to issue another warning, similar to that given in April.

“There have been cases where people have drowned… the major reason is there is no certified lifeguard on duty. It is required to have a lifeguard, we have the tourism body classification and among that criteria is health and safety and a lifeguard should be on duty – same as Dubai,” Christiane Abou Zeidan, director of environmental health and safety of Rotana told Hotelier Middle East.

Rotana operates hotels in Sharjah, however, Zeidan said all their lifeguards were certified and took part in regular training activities, refresher courses and drills.

Independent issue
Today, Sharjah’s room count stands at 9016, split among 47 hotels and 53 hotel apartment buildings, many of which are small local brands or independent properties, according to stats obtained by Hotelier Middle East in July.

One Sharjah hotel GM, who wished to remain anonymous, suggested the smaller, independent properties — without the best-practice procedures of larger hotel operators — were the main offenders.

“There are a lot of— not cowboy operations — but unbranded hotels with questionable safety standards.

“They have a very good tourism authority set up here… [the] problem is policing independent hotels,” the GM said. “Also, Sharjah is desperate to generate tourism… so they tend to turn a blind eye to any investor that wants to come and have a hotel in this place.”

However, with a number of international brands earmarked for the emirate, standards across the board are expected to catch up with the more developed hotel markets of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Following the entry of Hilton into Sharjah in 2011, Starwood is set to open its first hotel there, Sheraton Sharjah, at the beginning of 2013. The operator also announced in May that it would bring its Aloft brand to the emirate in 2015 through a deal with UAE businessman Amer Eisa Moussa Al Amri.

Another newcomer will be the luxury Chedi brand from GHM. Already operating one hotel in Oman, Chedi will open its first Sharjah hotel in 2015.

“The health and safety [regulations] in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are more advanced than in other emirates. They do have good regulations in other emirates but I feel that in Dubai and Abu Dhabi… they’re enforcing their regulations,” said Zeidan.

“[In Sharjah] they’re doing well also, they do have regulations in Sharjah. Since just recently, Sharjah Municipality is obliging the hotels to have a pool where you can dip your feet before you go into the main pool, this requirement we don’t have in Abu Dhabi or Dubai.”

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Country-wide issue
Furthermore, Sharjah is not the only emirate where such tragedies have occurred over the last year.

In April a Russian tourist drowned near an Ajman beach. And even in the established tourism destination of Dubai, a guest drowned in the swimming pool of Oasis Court Hotel Apartments in Bur Dubai in November 2011.

The incident happened in the open-air pool of the hotel at around 6:20pm. According to the hotel staff, however, the lifeguard had left for the day at 6.30pm. The swimming pool is 19 metres long with a deep end of 2.5 metres, with no CCTV in the pool area.

At the end of the day, Zeidan said it was up to the management of every hotel to take responsibility for their guests’ safety.

“The emirates are collaborating well together and adapting very good international standards to safeguard tourists, they’re doing a good job. However, if we see these incidents occurring in the country it doesn’t mean the regulatory authorities aren’t doing their job, it’s how the people are complying with the laws and offering safe practice,” she concluded.

The story in short
While Sharjah’s tourism industry lags behind that of the more established emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the local authorities have taken steps to ensure best practice among its hotels, specifically in terms of pool safety.

However, several incidents of late are said to reflect the distinct lack of international chains in the emirate, which is dominated by independent properties with some operating under their own rules. Hoteliers say that it is difficult to police these individual properties.

The general consensus is that each hotel must take responsibility for the safety of their guests while at their pools or beach areas.

As more global hotel groups head to Sharjah over the coming years, it is expected that this will become the norm.