Saturday 14 / June / 2025
Muscat: Police and rescue services have condemned a video, which shows a young boy in a flooding wadi narrowly escaping serious injury.
The video, shot in Wadi Al Masqa, North of Sumail, shows the boy in a wadi as water begins to drench him. Seconds later, he is engulfed in raging, dirty floodwater littered with debris, including a large plank of wood that misses him by inches.
The young boy ducks below the water and moments later, the solid wooden plank rushes past just inches away from his head.
“This is a dangerous scene; this is carelessness and serious endangerment. There is no initiative from the parent’s perspective or society. There are laws in place that could punish him (the videographer) and this kind of behaviour is punishable. The child is young and cannot be responsible for himself—that is why the parents should be in charge,” a Royal Oman Police (ROP) source said.
Ahmed Al Habib, a father of two boys, stated that it all comes down to responsibility.
“Obviously, any responsible parent would never allow his child to be near a running wadi. Not to mention standing more than 15 feet away with a camera and not in a position to react if the child gets hit by something,” Al Habib said.
Israa Al Balushi and her husband Raad Al Farsi are parents of two girls. Neither one could believe how unconcerned the person making the video was when the wadi was flooded.
“I was surprised that the person who is making the video did not stop the boy from swimming in the wadi. That wadi is brown and it’s filled with diseases and it’s dangerous to be in it. I would never ever allow my children to play in it. As a mother of two, I’d love it if my children embraced nature and spent time outdoors but not like this.”
“This is not fresh and clean moving water! The boy is standing below a broken road at a start of a wadi and everything the water is dragging is going to land on him. You never know what’s in it. Parents should not allow their children to play in such environments. Muddy puddles and moving wadis can be extremely dangerous for kids and adults physically,” Al Balushi said.
"Water can be infested with diseases and that plank could have a nail or a splinter on it. What I know about these things is that a scratch can lead to severe complications in the future. In two days, the child might have a fever and an infection that could be fatal some times. What if the parents never vaccinated him properly? We can never know these things. This video might look innocent and cute to some people, but to me as a parent I see child endangerment where the parents literally allowed their son to be in that situation," Al Farsi added.
"Calling this negligence is kind of harsh. It was a small plank. It’s a video and we don’t know how big the plank was. Judging by the piece of wood and by the speed of the water it shows that the plank was light. We all did this as children and had fun," another parent added.
“We are asking all of the citizens and residents to stay away from running wadis during rainfall and to not risk crossing the wadis. We also plead with parents and guardians to monitor and follow up with their children and to keep them away from wadis when they pose a danger,” a PACDA official stated.
