Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Sitting up in his hospital bed and smiling cheekily for the camera, Sulaiman Mohammed is the luckiest boy in Oman.
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Less than a month after the three-year-old and his elder sister were pulled from a burning car at a Sur filling station, Sulaiman is now finally able to breathe, talk and even eat a little.
One of the first questions he asked his dad was whether his big sister was okay. Medics are still treating Gazal, 4, and her father says she has undergone the first of many skin graft operations and that doctors were satisfied with the outcome.
Mahmood Abu Attiyah, the uncle of the children, said all medical devices have now been removed from Sulaiman.
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“He always asks about his sister Gazal. He can eat normally now but only small amounts of food for every meal,” he added.
“Gazal has undergone successfully a cosmetic surgery last Monday,” Mohammed Sulaiman, the father of the two, told Times of Oman.
“Her condition is still critical but at least now cosmetic surgeries are possible for her. She will need many surgeries as she sustained 75 per cent burns. Her respiratory organs (lungs) are burned inside due to breathing in the hot smoke,” said the father.
He added that her blood pressure is now stable but her body is still not responding to treatment. “Doctors said they can’t predict anything regarding Gazal’s condition. They update us every day with her condition,” said the father.
In happier news for the parents, Sulaiman is getting much better and his body is responding well to the treatment.
“All devices were taken off from Sulaiman and thank god he is getting better day by day. I was with him and talked to him, but he isn’t talking much. He had a hard time to open his eyes, but he can sense who is around him,” his father added.
He explained that the cosmetic surgery for Gazal involved skin grafting from her stomach area. “She sustained 75 per cent burns and such surgeries will take a long time because doctors have to wait for months for the stomach area skin to form again and then graft the skin for another burn,” said the father.
Little Gazal and her brother were hauled to safety by an Omani hero who saved the toddlers from certain death after their family car caught fire in a Sur petrol station on August 24.
Rescuer Mohammed Al Hashmi raced to the smoke-filled vehicle and single-handedly rescued both children after their father, who had left them to buy groceries, raised the alarm.
The two children were transferred to Khoula hospital specialist burns unit.
“We are all happy that both children will be under the specialist burn unit in Khoula hospital. We thank everyone who prayed for them and ask them to pray more so Gazal and Sulaiman go back home to Sur to see their brother and sister,” said the uncle. Mohammed Al Hashmi, the Omani hero who rescued two Jordanian children from a burning car at a fuel station in Sur, wants everyone to pray for the speedy recovery of the injured children.
“I did it without expecting anything in return. Almighty gave me the power to act at that moment. I only want everyone to pray for the injured children,” Al Hashmi told Times of Oman.
Al Hashmi has been honoured by petrol station bosses in Sur where his bravery saved the lives of the children.
