Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
In my last post i mentioned the most scary car ride i've ever had, well ive just had a much scarier one.
I arrived in morocco just before christmas and met my sister who had flown in from NY. It was our plan to surprise our mother who was coming to Morocco with my stepfather, uncle and aunt.
My mother arrived in Tangier on the day before new years and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw us. After a few days in Tangier we set off for a town called chefchouan with our tour guide Rasheed, who my mother and aunt had hired to drive us all around morocco.
After the first day of driving i was starting to get a little frustrated with our driver as he was driving carefully but incredibly slowly. I kept wanting to shout at him to 'step on the bloody gas' but held my toungue as my mum and aunt were in the car.
On the morning of the 3rd Jan we were heading from chefchouen to Fes. It was about 9am and raining slightly. I remember that I was dreaming about surfing in brazil when all of a sudden i heard a screeching sound and before i could look up I was slammed against the seat infront of me.
Completely winded for a couple of seconds i registered that we had just been in a head on car crash. It took me a further couple of secomds to work out that i wasnt seriously injured and started to shout out to my family to see if they were all alright. My mother, stepfather and aunt where in a pile in the seat infront of me and they all groaned that they were ok and my sister seemed to be moving in the front of the car also.
After a minute or so i managed to stumble out of the car and cross around to the other side, opening the front door where my sisiter was, she tried to move but screamed out in pain. At this stage my mother had crawled next to my sister and we both told her not to move for fear that she had damaged her spine. we could see the big smash in the windscreen where her head had hit it.
Dani told us that her hands were numb and that she couldnt feel her legs. we were extremely worried that something had happened to her spine. I rushed to our driver who had gotten out of the car and told him he needed to call for an ambulance for my sister.
This is when i looked around to see what had happened to the other car. The front of both cars had been completely smashed in. The driver of the other car, a mercedes benz taxi, had crawled out of his seat and was slumped on the ground on his back barely moving. Another lady had propped herself up against the road railing, she was bleeding heavily from the head and other places. There was also another lady that i didnt get a look at who was still stuck in the front seat of the taxi.
The police arrived what seemed like hours later but was probably only around 15 minutes and they had a doctor with them that was assesing all the injuries. He seemed to be spending much more time with the passengers of the other car and i was frantic that he wasnt looking after my sister or calling and ambulance for her. I was so preoccupied by worry for my sister that i wasnt actually thinking of the welfare of the other passengers. I could see clearly what had happened now and from what the rest of my family had seen, the taxi had come around the bend too fast and slid out onto our side of the road crashing head on into us.
It turned out that the passengers of the other car were far more hurt and left in the first two ambulances. The woman in the front of the taxi was actually pregnant and sadly died on the way to the hospital. The taxi driver was severly injured and is still in intensive care and im not actually sure what happed to the other woman.
Dani was eventually rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, thankfully feeling had come back to her legs, it must have been shock that turned her numb. The doctors were still unsure whether she had fractured anything and wanted to do some xrays to check.
When we got to the first hospital dani was xrayed then sent in another ambulance to the next town to get a cat scan and see a nuerologist. It turned out that she had not fractured anything and just had some bad neck sprains and severe whiplash. My aunt was also quite badly injured with her face swelling up like a ballon which has now gone black on one side.
Apart from some sore knees, numerous bruises, fat lips and one lost tooth everyone in the family is OK. very amazing considering that none of us were actually wearing seatbelts. im still stunned how we all got out of the accident so unharmed.
My family is continuing on their tour in a new car , with seatbelts, and im trying to decide what to do next, im thinking of a couple of weeks in brazil surfing might chase off the winter chills before i return to NY for a while.
- comments