African national critical after freak accident

NEW DELHI - A Nigerian, seriously injured in a freak accident when iron rods jutting out of a truck pierced his body, continued to be in a critical condition Tuesday, doctors said. His friend who was with him at the time is “comparatively stable”.

“The condition of one of the two victims who was in the driver’s seat during the accident is still critical. It was a complicated operation and he had already lost a lot of blood while being rescued. The other victim is comparatively stable,” a doctor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said.

Adoma, 22, and Cheick, 22, both information technology (IT) students, had a major accident when iron rods jutting out of a truck pierced their bodies after a collision near Savitri cinema in south Delhi early Monday.

The victims were on their way to Vasant Vihar from Nehru Place when the accident took place, police said.

Iron rods pierced Adoma’s chest, arm and leg. He was driving the car. Cheick who was sitting behind the driver’s seat was wounded on his leg by rods that pierced through Adoma’s body.

“The police reached the accident spot at around 3 a.m. and within half an hour had shifted the patients to the AIIMS trauma centre. Another good thing they did was that they did not pull out the rod from the patient’s body,” the doctor added.

“Fire officials also reached the spot with gas cutters and the rods were removed under our supervision. Both the patients have undergone surgery. The surgery was successful but the condition of one of them is still critical,” the doctor added.