A silent emergency call, a faint voice and GPS tracking helped Dubai Police find an unconscious woman locked inside a car and save her life within minutes.
It was 3.30am when a woman called the Dubai Police Operations Room and managed to utter only a few desperate words in Arabic.
“Brother, I’m at the intersection…” she said in a faint, strained voice before the call suddenly went silent.
The call handler, who answered within three seconds, immediately realised that something was wrong. Despite repeatedly trying to get more information, he could hear only faint groans from the caller before she stopped responding completely.
Using Dubai Police’s emergency call location system, officers traced the woman’s phone to the Nad Al Sheba area near Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road.
Suspecting that she may have lost consciousness, the call operator checked whether her number was registered in Dubai Police’s database of individuals with critical medical conditions, but no record was found.
Acting quickly, the operator alerted nearby patrols and instructed them to search the area, especially access points leading from Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road. Meanwhile, he kept the emergency line open to detect any sounds or signs from the caller.
Within minutes, the first patrol located a parked vehicle with its doors locked. Through the open call, the operator could hear officers knocking on the car window. Inside, they found the woman unconscious.
A rescue team was immediately dispatched. Although the vehicle was parked in a sandy area away from the official road network, responders reached the location quickly, opened the car and rescued the woman.
Authorities later confirmed that she had suffered a severe drop in blood sugar levels, which caused her to lose consciousness.
The incident was featured in Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim’s book, “Operations Management in Critical Incidents, Crises and Disasters.”
Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan personally followed up on the woman’s condition and contacted her after she reached the hospital to ensure she was safe. The woman later thanked the police team for their swift response, saying: “You arrived so quickly and saved me from death.”
Dubai Police used the incident to remind residents with serious medical conditions to register their details through the force’s critical medical cases programme, helping emergency responders access important health information faster during emergencies.
The case highlights Dubai Police’s increasing use of technology and rapid-response systems to assist people who are unable to communicate their location or situation during life-threatening incidents.
A similar case involved Abdullah Bourguiba, who was more than 3,600km away in Kazan, Russia, when he used Dubai Police’s “Your Security at the Touch of a Button” emergency application to seek urgent assistance for an Al Wasl Sports Club player who needed emergency surgery.
Despite being outside the UAE, Dubai Police coordinated with local authorities, helping ensure the player received immediate medical care.
The emergency SOS feature integrated into the Dubai Police smart application allows users to send an immediate distress alert along with their exact GPS location to the Command and Control Centre at the General Directorate of Operations.
The service is designed to provide help when people are unable to clearly communicate their location or situation, ensuring they can quickly connect with Dubai Police emergency response teams.
