MANAMA, 23 January 2005 — A 47-year-old Bahraini man was killed instantly after a 21-year-old Bahraini driver lost control of his vehicle and hit him as he attempted to retrieve his mobile phone while driving in Seef District yesterday.

Sayed Hamzah Sayed Muhsan, father of a boy and a girl both in their early twenties, was pronounced dead on location after he sustained a severe head injury.

He was walking on the side of the road toward his near by Karbabad home when the driver lost control of his Toyota, crossed the sidewalk and hit him, dragging him more than 30 meters before coming to a stop. The driver reportedly told investigators that the only time he saw Sayed Muhsan, who works for a local construction company, after he raised his head and realized that he had hit him.

This is the first deadly accident to reportedly have been caused by the use of a mobile phone while driving in Bahrain. A number of minor and serious accidents had been reported in the past where the use of the mobile phone was a factor.

Bahrain Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), had launched the “use your mobile wisely” public awareness campaign last December to remind mobile users to think of others while using their mobile phones in public places.

There are no regulations banning the use of mobile phones while driving in Bahrain.

Meanwhile, four Asians who were trapped on the roof of their Manama house after a fire broke out in the lower floor were rescued by firefighters yesterday.

Twenty firefighters with five fire engines lead by the head of operations at the Civil Defense and Fire Service, Lt. Col. Abdulaziz Al-Amer, were able to help the four — including an Indian mother Sohere Azeez, 38, and her 20-year-old son Nizam Azeez — escape the blaze.

Both the woman and her son are from Kochi in Kerala. Sri Lankan Ranjithkumar Sinnathamby, 56, who was inside the room that caught fire said that he left food on the stove and sat in the living room to watch television when the fire broke out.

The fire destroyed the kitchen and the living room, but firefighters managed to prevent it from causing damage to the rest of the house or neighboring homes in the tightly-packed area, mainly housing low income Asian workers.

The four rescued were treated for smoke inhalation on the scene, but refused to be transported to the hospital.