Pile-up victims under observation

ABU DHABI // Many of the motorists and passengers involved in the pile-up of 127 cars on the E-11 motorway near Al Samha on Saturday remain in hospital.

Following the accident, 52 people were taken to Al Rahba Hospital where 18 remain hospitalised. Most will not be discharged for another day or two, said Dr Nellie Boma, chief medical officer at the hospital.

One of the 18 has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.

"He has minor head injuries but he requires intensive care monitoring so we had to have him in the ICU. He is stable, however," said Dr Boma.

Two others had to undergo orthopaedic surgery yesterday to set broken bones and fractures but both are in stable condition.

Thirty patients were discharged over the course of Saturday afternoon after being treated for minor and moderate injuries, while two others were transferred to different hospitals in Abu Dhabi.

Of the patients referred, one was an Emirati with an open ankle fracture who was transferred to Zayed Military Hospital.

The other was transferred to Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in the capital, because the patient suffered a cervical spine fracture that could only be treated at that facility.

The spokesman at Al Rahba said that the nationalities of those injured in the accident were varied.

"We received two Bangladeshis, three Egyptians, one Pakistani, 14 Emiratis, two from Haiti, 11 Indians, one Iraqi, four Jordanians, three Omanis, six Pakistanis, one Palestinian, one South African, one from Sudan, one from Yemen and one from Uzbekistan," he said.

Seven of the total 60 injured were taken to Mafraq Hospital in Abu Dhabi, where two remain under observation.

"We discharged five of the seven patients brought to us in just two hours, after treating them for minor injuries," said Dr Jihad Awad, deputy head of emergency at the hospital.

The five discharged on Saturday - an Egyptian couple and their three children - had minor cuts and bruises.

The two kept overnight - both males of Pakistani descent - have injuries that Dr Awad described as "moderate".

"We will keep them for one more night and they can probably go home [today]," he said yesterday.

One patient has a leg fracture and the other is being treated for bruises on his chest and abdomen.

All others injured in the accident were taken to Al Samha Healthcare Centre for treatment, where they were discharged a few hours later.

hkhalaf@thenational.ae