Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: A four-year-old boy had a miraculous escape after he was hit by an SUV in Seeb. Little Awas Al Mahrami ran straight out into a main road on Sunday and was hit by a 4X4 vehicle.
His father, Yousif Al Mahrami, was mending fishing nets on the beach nearby and only knew his son had run off when he heard the screech of tyres braking on tarmac.
CCTV footage of the drama shows Awas looking left before he runs across the road, however he was too small to see the danger over the parked cars blocking his view. As he ran out, he failed to spot a dark coloured 4X4 vehicle approaching.
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Awas miraculously came through the accident virtually unharmed, suffering only minor cuts and bruises. Hours after the horror accident, he was sitting up in his hospital bed accepting gifts from relieved friends and family.
The video footage of the near-death accident was obtained by Awas’s father from a nearby shop. He published it online in an effort to raise awareness among parents and motorists to watch out for the children. The CCTV footage, recorded on September 16, shows Awas running into the road, the driver of the car jumping from his vehicle and passers-by stopping to help.
The driver was so shocked by what had happened that he leapt from his car to help and forgot to apply his handbrake. As he helps Awas up from the road his car can be seen rolling backwards. Yousif took his son to Khoula Hospital in the driver’s car.
The incident took place on Sunday at 11am in Al Shraijah area near Seeb Beach. Both the boy and his father were on the beach at that time.
“Thank god he only escaped with minor bruises on his head. I only heard the sound of brakes and I knew that something was wrong,” said Yousif. “I rushed to the spot and found out that my son was run over by the oncoming vehicle,” he added.
"He was with me working on some fishing nets and suddenly he ran to a nearby food shop. I didn’t pay attention when he left.”
Al Mahrami added that his son was hospitalised at Khoula Hospital and was discharged on the same day as he luckily suffered only minor bruises.
“I took him to a nearby clinic and then he was transported by ambulance to Khoula Hospital.”
Al Mahrami didn’t however ask for any compensation from the driver who ran over Awas. “It was not his fault and because of that I forgave him,” he continued.
An official at the Royal Oman Police (ROP) has confirmed the incident without giving further details. Ali Al Barwani, CEO of the Oman Road Safety Association, said that the boy survived because of the mercy of God.
“We really have to thank God here because he is such a small boy and at that age, children are quite weak so anything could have happened and the parents would have had to suffer so much pain,” he said, speaking to the Times of Oman.
“I have said before that children are not responsible for their own safety because they are small and they don’t know what is correct and what is wrong. They don’t know that running onto the road is wrong and so we have to always educate them and inform them."
“To all parents, I say, never, ever, ever leave your children alone, especially near a road. We see this almost every day in shopping malls, where parents are taking their trollies and unloading things into the car and the children are just running around. There are a lot of cars there and it only takes one second for something to go wrong."
“Put the child in the car first and then unload your trolley. At least in the shopping malls, cars are not speeding, but on the open road, cars move fast."
“I would therefore say it is important to install proper traffic regulating controls such as speed breakers and cameras on the roads so that parents, children and motorists can drive and live in peace,” he added.
Hilal Al Sarmi, a Shura member representing the wilayat of Seeb, told Times of Oman that speed breakers could be installed on this road to help.
“We are in contact with both ROP and the Muscat Municipality about the matter. We hope that speed breakers will be installed soon. I’m so happy that the boy is in a stable health condition,” he said.
