Bahrain witnesses heavy traffic jam

Manama

Bahrain witnessed heavy traffic snarls at various locations yesterday morning after reports of ‘suspicious objects’ found at three roads. Traffic came to a standstill at Salmabad Main Highway, Diraz and Budaiya Highway from 6am to 9am, troubling motorists. 

According to posts appeared in Facebook, suspicious objects placed by miscreants were found from near the Shaikh Isa bin Salman Highway on the traffic intersection in Salmabad, the entrance of Diraz, and the Budaiya Highway close to the area of JidHaffs, which were later confirmed as fake bombs. Police and bomb squad reached the scenes and took control soon after the bomb scare reports appeared, social media posts claimed. 

The Ministry of Interior Affairs also stated via their official Twitter account that, “Heavy traffic on Shaikh Isa bin Salman highway towards Manama kindly seek alternative roads.”

The traffic movement was restored by 9.30am, it took further an hour to clear the vehicles stuck between the King Fahd Causeway, Mina Salman and Salmabad.

The images circulated in the social media sites show cylinder shaped objects placed at the footpaths and dividers. Another video posted by a Facebook user shows security officials inspecting the object near Salmabad traffic signal.

Traffic jams in the rush hours cause inconvenience

School students and office-goers had a hard time reaching destinations yesterday morning following the heavy traffic jams in the main highways in Bahrain yesterday. A long line of vehicles was formed by 6am in the Salmabad-Isa Town route, Diraz and Budaiya.

According to the parents of Rhea, a student at the Indian School, it takes over an hour for her to reach her school at Isa Town by the school bus in the normal situation. But yesterday, it took almost two hours for her to reach the school. According to Rhea’s mother Brenita, traffic congestions in the routes were not a rare experience, but yesterday’s case was exceptional. For some school buses, it took more than three hours to reach the school campus, she said.

Assistant Director of Asian School, Lovy Joseph confirmed that most of their school buses reached the campus very late. While many of the buses were delayed by about one-and-a-half hours, some buses took a longer time to reach their school located in Tubli. “Many of the students had a tough time in the morning as they had to wait for school buses for hours under scorching sun due to heavy traffic congestion,” she said.

The experience of a private firm employee Hana is no different. It usually takes just 12 minutes for her to reach office in Zinj from her house located in Hidd. But yesterday, it took more than one-and-a-half hours. “Since I was tired of waiting in the traffic at Mina Salman, I turned towards Um Al Hasam. But the situation was no different there,” she described.

“In case of any accidents, there occurs a delay of just 10-15 minutes. But such a delay never happened in my 11 years of stay in Bahrain,” she said.