Border Guard rescues 2 Emiratis from Empty Quarter

The Border Guard rescued two United Arab Emirates (UAE) citizens who lost their way deep in the Rub Al-Khali (Empty Quarter) desert recently. The two were reported missing on Wednesday evening.
“The Border Guard office in Batha received a call for help at 9:15 p.m. on Wednesday about the missing two. Another UAE citizen came to the office and told us that the two traveled to the desert in a Lexus car. They were heading for a desert location called Umm Qurun,” spokesman of the guard Col. Khaled Al-Arqub said in a press statement.
A search party comprising six rescue teams was dispatched immediately to the desert, he added.
Al-Thuraya Company helped the search party locate the position of the missing persons based on the last mobile calls received from the two.
The missing people were located Thursday morning at a location 350 km into the desert. They were in a precarious situation as their car had run out of fuel and they had lost signals on their phones. Al-Arqub said they were in good health.
The spokesman warned that the desert terrain was dangerous and driving in it required extraordinary skill and experience. He said those traveling into the desert should go with more than one vehicle, with plenty of water, food and fuel, and have an excellent means of communication with friends or relatives. They should also inform their friends about their route before their departure, he said.
A number of people have died in expeditions to the Rub Al-Khali. Earlier this month a Qatari man and his wife were found dead from dehydration after they lost their way and their car overturned.