Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Five people were killed instantly when the taxi they were travelling in collided with a truck in the wilayat of Suwaiq yesterday.
According to Royal Oman Police officials, an investigation into the crash is on-going.
In an online statement, ROP said: “Five people have died in a road accident in the wilayat of Suwaiq and an investigation is underway.”
An official at the ROP said: “A truck collided with a taxi near Suwaiq roundabout at 10:22 am, which resulted in the death of five people due to the impact of the accident.”
Khalid Al Shukeili, who is a sports TV presenter in Oman, was at the site of the crash but escaped with his life after steering away from the incoming truck.
The truck had crossed from the other side of the road, breaking through the crash barrier and smashing into a taxi right behind him.
Al Shukeili said: “We would like to convey our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash, two of whom are Omani and three who were from Asian nationalities.”
According to him, the event was extremely shocking, and he was a hair’s breadth away from death.
“It was the first time that I’ve been through anything like this,” he added. “Maybe it was just not my time to die yet. Either way, my condolences go to the families of everyone who did lose their lives in the crash.
“I had left my home and was heading east from Al Suwaiq. There is an area with a diversion on the road because the roundabout is closed, and you are only supposed to drive at 80 km/h on that part. There are even radars all along the path, but nobody usually speeds there because they know the road well.
“I was driving down this road with a taxi behind me, and we were perhaps 10-15 metres apart from one another. This was when I heard the crash,” he added.
The crash Al Shukeili heard had come from a truck on the other side of the road, which had lost control and drove through the metal barrier.
“The truck had completely decimated the metal like it wasn’t there and was now hurtling towards us,” he added. “I could not leave the road at that point and so I pressed the gas a little harder, trying to move my car away from the truck’s path, and it missed me by maybe one or two metres.”
While Al Shukeili managed to escape the crash, the taxi driver behind him was unable to do the same.
“May God have mercy on his soul, the taxi driver was behind me and so ended up in the truck’s path. The truck crashed into their vehicle.”
In the aftermath of the car crash, Al Shukeili tried to do what he could to help.
“My car was the first to pull over to offer aid because of how close I was,” he recalled. “We had hoped to find maybe one or two of the passengers alive out of the five, but there was no one. We worked to lower the remains of the three expats from the vehicle but were unable to free the two Omanis in the front because they were trapped there. It was an incredibly powerful crash”.
According to Al Shukeili, there would be two funerals for those who lost their lives in the crash.
“I’m very glad to have kept my life. Maybe it simply wasn’t my time. Some people would have acted differently in that situation and it could have been an even greater tragedy. Five people lost their lives in Al Suwaiq and they will be mourned in two funerals, one in Al Khadra and one in Al Khabba.
