Dubai Police have revealed that a news report about a man preventing lifeguards from saving his daughter was a story from 1996.

According to reports, the article detailed a Dubai police officer’s account of an Asian woman drowning because her father blocked lifeguards from rescuing her. The article drew attention when an international newswire picked it up and began asking Dubai Police questions on Twitter.

Responding to a question, Dubai Police said: “This is an old incident that dates back to 1996.”

The news website later clarified that deputy director of Dubai Police’s search and rescue department, Lt Col Ahmed Burqibah, was “recounting some of the worst incidents he had encountered in his tenure”.