Thursday 25 / April / 2024
Muscat: A survivor, who lost three of her brothers in the horrific crash that claimed 18 lives in total, has told of the terror and her grief.
The accident, which occurred in Fahud near Ibri involving a passenger bus, a truck and car at about 12.30am, claiming multiple lives and left 16 more injured, some in a critical condition.
MA, who sustained injuries on her head, back and hands, in one of the worst accidents in Oman, was travelling on the bus. She is out of danger now but the shock of losing her brothers has left her inconsolable.
Read also: Brother’s grief over fatal sibling
“I’ll not travel in a bus anymore. I lost my three brothers,” she said from her hospital bed in Ibri.
“I still remember the scene before falling unconscious... the broken glass, the screams of the passengers and some who just flew out of the bus. Then a rush of blood in my veins, but by the time I realised what was happening, the bus had crashed with a deafening sound. Within seconds, I lost consciousness,” she recalled.
She said the image would continue to haunt her for the rest of life. “I was going for shopping to Dubai with my three brothers,” said MA.
She said that she discovered about her brothers’ deaths, and those of the fellow passengers, after she regained consciousness.
“I didn’t know some would sleep forever,” she said.
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For Madiyan Al Hashmi, who was the first rescue person to reach the site, “It was the most traumatic scene I have witnessed in my whole life.”
Al Hashmi said the impact of the crash was so huge that they had little hope of finding any survivors. “We tried our level best to rescue all the injured. Many people were trapped inside the bus and we were just following the cries of the injured,” said Al Hashmi.
He was trying to save the injured but was himself shell-shocked. “I think I won’t be able to forget this tragedy for the rest of my life,” said Al Hashmi.
He added that even after starting the rescue from 6am in the morning and going back home after shifting the injured, he couldn’t take that scene out from his mind making it impossible for him to sleep.
Also read: PDO dispels rumours, says no staff involved in Ibri road accident
“Everybody was trying to help. I remember the rescue force, the medical teams and individuals who used their own vehicles to transfer the injured. Everybody was trying to save people but there were many who died on the spot,” he said.
An employee of the Gulf Transport Company Oman said, “The driver of the bus, Shakat Ali Balushi, sustained injuries and has been admitted to the hospital,” the official said.
The bus was heading towards Dubai from Salalah and had 26 passengers on board when it was in collision with the truck.
“The accident occurred at around 12.30am,” the employee said. The bus had left Salalah at 3pm on Monday and was supposed to reach Dubai on Tuesday at 9am.
