Six dead as rain pounds Gulf states

Torrential rain in northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has killed six people this week, including a seven-year-old-boy, local media has reported.

Omani police on Thursday found one body that had been swept away in a flash flood in the northern district of Nizwa, the Shabiba daily, an Arabic-language paper, reported.

Another body was found trapped in a car that sank into the mud in a flooded valley in the northwestern area of al-Buraimi.

The two fatalities brought Oman's death toll to five, the paper said.

The Times of Oman newspaper said heavy rain had hit northern areas of the sultanate since Sunday.

Images posted on social media on Thursday showed cars stuck in gushing riverbeds and rescue teams using ropes to pull people out of the water.

In the UAE, a seven-year-old boy drowned on Wednesday after he was trapped in a car that was caught in floods in the border area of Hatta.

Schools in the UAE were ordered shut, flights were suspended and the stock market was closed down as the heavy rain came down on Wednesday.