A truck that went out of control at the entrance to Fujairah turned a line of stopped traffic into a fiery mass casualty scene.

Fourteen people were killed and 30 others were injured when the truck struck several vehicles on Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Road, near the entrance to the eastern emirate of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Ministry of Interior and Fujairah Police said Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. The driver lost control around midnight, police said, on a stretch of road where traffic had slowed and vehicles ahead had already stopped.

The truck hit another vehicle, rolled over and plowed into the cars sitting motionless in the slow traffic, the interior ministry said. In all, 23 vehicles were drawn into the pileup, five of them trucks.

The Fire That Spread Car to Car

The collisions alone did not account for the death toll. The impact caused “the truck to catch fire and the blaze to spread to several other vehicles, resulting in a heavy loss of life,” the ministry said.

Police, ambulance crews and civil defense teams converged on the road. They put out the fire, carried the injured to hospitals and secured the site, where specialist teams remain at work.

DNA Tests to Identify the Dead

All 30 of the injured were taken to hospitals, Fujairah Police said. Naming the dead is a slower process: authorities are relying on DNA testing to identify the bodies. Some of those killed were Emirati nationals, police added.

Indian citizens were also among the dead. “The Consulate has reached out to the bereaved families and is closely working with local authorities to provide all possible assistance and support,” the Indian Consulate in Dubai said in a statement posted online.

The people hurt on the road came from across the Gulf and well beyond it. Authorities listed their nationalities as Emirati, Omani, Indian, Brazilian, Pakistani, Jordanian and Egyptian.

Half of them did not stay long in care. Fifteen of the injured were discharged after treatment, while 15 remain under medical supervision, Fujairah Police said.

A Plea to Rely on Official Sources

The figures released Thursday came with a caveat attached. The interior ministry described the toll as preliminary and said relevant authorities were still dealing with the aftermath of the crash while providing the necessary medical care to those hurt. More details will be released once they are verified, the ministry said.

Specialized teams are working in coordination with other authorities to determine what caused the crash and to investigate its circumstances. The ministry asked the public to take its information from official sources and to refrain from spreading rumors or unverified reports.

The Public Prosecution has opened an investigation and ordered the truck driver held in pretrial detention, the state news agency WAM reported Friday, Nov. 13. The driver remains in a hospital under security measures.

Early findings show the pileup was two crashes in quick succession, both at a spot where the right-hand lane was closed for maintenance, according to prosecutors. Investigators have impounded damaged vehicles for brake checks and are collecting tracking and speed data, and DNA testing to identify the victims is ongoing. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Sharqi, the crown prince of Fujairah, has visited the families of some of those killed.

Both the interior ministry and Fujairah Police offered their condolences to the families of the dead and wished a speedy recovery to everyone still in a hospital bed.

Seven Killed on Emirates Road

In a separate case in Dubai on June 8, a minibus crashed into a truck that had stopped in the middle of Emirates Road, killing seven people and injuring nine others, police said. Preliminary investigations showed the truck had come to a sudden stop because of a technical fault, and the bus driver allegedly failed to pay attention and keep a safe distance before ramming into it from behind. Five of the injured were seriously hurt and four moderately, and all were taken to the hospital for treatment.

In another case, an Emirati woman and her nine-month-old daughter were killed on July 23 when the family’s vehicle veered off course and crashed into a parked truck on the Fujairah-Khor Fakkan Road, police said. The husband suffered serious injuries and the couple’s three-year-old daughter was hurt. Initial findings indicated that driver distraction may have been a contributing factor behind the sudden deviation.