DUBAI // At least one of the four teenage girls seriously injured in a suspected gas explosion has regained consciousness, her family said yesterday. Madiha Housee said her sister Fatima, 16, woke from her induced coma on Friday and has since made a "big improvement" and is now breathing on her own. "She is now talking a little and we feel very positive," she said. "We are trying to give her all the attention for now."
Ms Housee, 29, said two of the other girls who were injured in the blast have also regained consciousness. Hospital officials were unavailable to confirm this last night. Last week, three of the girls underwent surgical procedures to clean the wounds they sustained from the blast on June 18 in the basement of the Housee family's three-storey home in Mirdif. Fatima, Kim Oberholzer and Daniela Seddon, both 14, and another girl, who has not yet been named, are still being treated at Rashid Hospital's burns unit for first and second-degree burns. After the explosion they were kept under sedation, incubated and placed on ventilation. Their lung function was affected by smoke inhalation, according to their doctors.
Kim, from South Africa, underwent a three-hour operation late last week. Her doctor described her as the most severely injured of the group, with burns to 55 per cent of her body. Her father, Dino Oberholzer, said yesterday she developed a lung infection on Saturday. "She is still sedated and on a ventilator, she's more stable today," he said. "It is really quite difficult, but we are trying to be strong for her."
The exact cause of the blast remains unclear. Last Monday the police ruled that the suspected gas explosion was an accident and that there would be no criminal charges brought. However, the Housee family, originally from Mauritius who lived in the house for five years, are still yet to be informed about the cause of the blast. zconstantine@thenational.ae
