Page 442 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

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Accidental Deaths.—There were two cases of accidental drowning : a child of three years
old fell down a well and a boy of seven was drowned while swimming in the sea near Muharraq.
In Naim district a number of women crowded on to the balcony of an old house to watch a
wedding. The balcony collapsed and one woman was killed and five others were injured.
A P.W.D. labourer was killed when loading sand from a mound into a lorry at Suq el
Khamis, the mound subsided burying him under a quantity of sand.
A Palestinian working in a garage was electrocuted while using an electric drill.
There is as yet no Workmen’s Compensation Act in Bahrain but people arc beginning to
accept the fact that persons employing labour have a responsibility towards the people whom
they employ if they sustain death or injuries while carrying out their duties. In several recent
cases reasonable compensation based on the Indian Workmen’s Compensation Act has been
paid by employers to their employees without resort to the courts. There are, however, still
people who repudiate any responsibility for compensation.

Fires.—There were 35 fires during the year; there were the same number of outbreaks in the
previous year. In all these fires one man, one woman and one child lost their lives. The
Government has recently improved its fire fighting equipment by purchasing additional hose
pipe and other apparatus. Manama is well provided with water points but when fires occur in
some of the distant villages the difficulty in obtaining water is great. Almost all the fires were
found to have been caused by pressure stoves. Most of the fires were in “Barasti” buildings,
made of date branches which become dry and very inflammable. In no case was there any
suspicion of arson.
The most serious fire was one in the village of Sanabis where 50 houses were entirely des­
troyed and most of the occupants lost all their possessions. In other fires in Manama, Muharraq
and the villages 13, 14, 8 and 4 houses were destroyed.
As the number of barasti houses decreases so do the number of fires appear to increase. It
has been suggested that a reason for there being so many fires is that workers in the oil fields on
night shifts get up in the night and when half awake cook food or make coffee. Another reason
is that far more people than in the past can now afford to buy and to use primus stoves. If a
fire starts in a barasti area and is fanned by a strong wind little can be done to prevent the neigh­
bouring houses from becoming alight. The public always assemble and help, their method
being to pull down the neighbouring houses in order to isolate the house which >s burning, but
often there is no time in which to do this.

TRAFFIC BRANCH
(Report by Inspector J. Hyde, Officer-in-Charge of the Traffic Branch)
Vehicles.—At the end of the year 1371 the total number of vehicles registered was 2,124, an
increase of more than ten per cent, over the previous year. The usual annual examination of
the majority of these vehicles was carried out by the Traffic Department, owing to the good
condition of vehicles generally, this was fairly easy. Most of the 112 vehicles which were
scrapped during the year were taken off the road by thei r owners.
Accidents.—The total number of accidents reported was 111, approximately two per cent,
more than 1370 ; 27 of these occurred during the hours of darkness.
The number of persons injured was 51 ; of these 9 were serious cases and 42 were slight.
In 60 accidents there was no personal injury. Of the 51 persons injured 33 were pedestrians, 15
of whom were children of 15 years of age or under. There were no fatalities with children.
Four persons were killed as a result of accidents, two were females of about 60 years of age, the
other two were males. Of the four fatalities, three were pedestrians.