A FATHER has been arrested after allegedly letting his daughter drown because he didn’t want her being touched by strangers and dishonoured by them.

The 20-year-old woman had gone to a Dubai beach for a picnic with her family when she got into difficulty in the water and screamed for help.

Deputy Director of Dubai Police’s Search and Rescue Department Ahmed Burqibah said the woman’s father hampered the rescue effort.

“This is one of the incidents which I cannot forget, it shocked me,” Lt Colonel Burqibah told Emirates 24/7.

“Two rescue men were at the beach, and they rushed to help the girl. However, there was one obstacle which prevented them from reaching the girl and helping her.

“This obstacle was the belief of this Asian man who considered that if these men touched his daughter, then this would dishonour her. It cost him the life of his daughter.”

The man, a Dubai expat, physically stopped the nearby lifeguards from reaching his daughter.

“The father was a tall and strong man. He started pulling and preventing the rescue men and got violent with them. He told them that he prefers his daughter being dead than being touched by a strange man.”

By the time lifeguards got to her, it was too late.

“She died unfortunately, at a time when she had a chance to live, especially that the rescue men were so close to her to pull her out of the water.”

The man, who has not been identified, was arrested by Dubai police and will be charged over the incident.