Baby among 6 of Beed family swept away in Oman cloudburst

A relative, Hidayat Khan said Khairulla was a retired teacher, living with his wife in Mazalgaon. “Since his son had not returned for two-three years, they decided to spend time with him in Oman and hence had left Mazalgaon on May 6,” he said.

On Saturday, they were going to a tourist spot near Muscat when a sudden cloudburst washed away their vehicle.

Sardar was negotiating his vehicle from a clogged bridge when the incident occurred.

“Due to cloudy and misty conditions, he was finding it difficult to locate the traffic infront of him. As he got down from the vehicle, a heavy cloudburst occurred. While Sardar clutched on to a tree, his car was washed away,” Hidayat added.

Sardar managed to grab a palm-tree branch and pull himself out of the fast-flowing waters in Wadi Bani Khalid, stated a news report in the Times of Oman. His parents, Khairulla and Shabana, wife Arshi, daughter Sidra, 4, son Zaid, 2, and newborn son Nooh, were all swept away, added the report. Sardar had called up his sister in Solapur and narrated his ordeal. “I watched my entire family being swept away. I could not do anything…” he told his sister.

Local authorities carried out a search operation but could not locate the vehicle.

Times of Oman, quoted local authorities, saying, “We had searched for missing people last night but as time went on, the search was discontinued and resumed early in the morning due to visibility concerns.”