This Article is From Apr 19, 2010

Delhi: Students pierced by rod survive

New Delhi: In a terrible accident in south Delhi, four African people travelling in a car were pierced with iron rods after they tried to overtake a truck carrying the rods. Two of them were students of information technology.

The students have miraculously survived, though one of them is critical.

"They were trying to overtake a truck and rammed into the truck which was carrying iron rods," said Raju, an eyewitness.

Twenty three-year-old Adam and Cheick, both residents of Ivory Coast in West Africa, were driving to the airport with two friends early Monday morning. At a stretch in Malviya Nagar in south Delhi, they tried to overtake a truck, which unfortunately veered off track and hit the rear.

One iron road sticking out went right through Adam on the driver's seat and pierced a thigh of Cheick seated right behind him. Both patients were rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre.

Doctors say that the Delhi Police showed great presence of mind in not trying to pull out the rod at the site but bringing the patients in the car and getting them separated by the medical staff here.

Cheick is out of danger but Adam, sitting on the driver's seat, has lost a lot of blood and is critical even after a surgery.

"The lower lobe of one of the lung is ruptured, so it is a complicated surgery, and he is still critical," said Dr Sanjeev Bhoi, Head of Emergency, AIIMS Trauma Centre.

The police say no traces of alcohol or drugs were found in the car or its four passengers.
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