Alexis Castelino
Daijiworld Media Network - Doha

Doha, Jul 5: After one of the rear tyres of a vehicle carrying employees of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Al Khor, burst while moving at the Seimaisma Inter-change of the North Road to Al Khor on Monday July 4 morning, the driver lost control over the vehicle. The accident took away four lives while ten others were seriously injured. The deceased have been identified as Dany Anto (34) from India, Maiudeen from Sudan, and Mariane and Clara from Philippines. The accident occurred about 40 kms away from the city, and the condition of one of the injured is stated to be critical.

Deceased Indian Nurse Dany

The Toyota Hiace vehicle met with the accident within Dayaan municipal limits. Employees of the same concern, who were following the van in another vehicle, passed on information about the accident to the police and HMC. Emergency vehicles then took the injured to hospitals.

The vehicle, after getting out of the driver’s control, was tossed around before coming to a halt some distance away from the road, after tearing apart barbed wire fencing along the road. The driver of the ill-fated vehicle, which was carrying 13 employees of HMC, named Basheer, an Indian national, is among the survivors. He has been seriously wounded.

Those who lost their lives were three female nurses and a Sudanese employee of HMC. One of the killed Philipinos, who was a respiratory therapist, was pregnant, it is learnt. A nurse of Egyptian origin, who suffered grave injuries, is in very critical condition with the chances of her survival are feeble, it is gathered. The other injured persons, who are being treated in Hamad Gebneral Hospital in Doha and Al Khor Hospital, are reportedly out of danger.

Indian nurses, Rani, Elsa and Lilly, are among those admitted to Hamad General Hospital Doha, and two among them have suffered fractures, with one of them also suffering from internal injuries. The husband of Dany works for Abdulla Abdulghani and Bros Co, and the couple, natives of Cherupuzha in Kasargod, Kerala, have a 30-month-old son.  It is learnt that Dany’s sister, Tiana Thomas, also works for HMC at its hospital in Wakrah. Arrangements are being made to airlift Dany’s body to India.

The hospital sources said that they are doing everything within their control to keep the injured alive.