Future of top student ruined by accident

Yousef is being cared for at a hospital in Abu Dhabi. His mother said others must learn from his misfortune. Pawan Singh / The National

ABU DHABI // “I started shivering and shaking. I was in absolute shock,” Mrs Al Shehhi says while wiping tears from her eyes as she recalls being told that her younger son was involved in a car crash.

On November 12 last year, Yousef Al Shehhi, a 17-year-old top student at a military high school, was asleep in the passenger seat with his seatbelt on as his brother Ali, 21, drove him to a laser eye surgery appointment in Dubai.

When a lorry swerved in front of them on Emirates Road, it led to a multi-vehicle pile-up that killed one person and severely injured several people.

Ali escaped with minor injuries but Yousef was hit on the right side of his head, a blow that partially severed his ear.

“At 12.30pm, the accident happened,” said Mrs Al Shehhi. “He was all ready for eye surgery, for life, for everything. And then this.”

When she visited a comatose Yousef in hospital, the mother-of-eight thought she would collapse. “I just started praying to God that he would get better,” she said.

Yousef suffered severe head trauma and brain haemorrhaging, leading to significant cognitive damage that impaired his speech, short-term memory and movement. Yousef is being treated at a hospital in Abu Dhabi, where doctors said his long-term medical outlook was uncertain.

Mrs Al Shehhi urged motorists to drive safely.

“Don’t use your mobile phone while driving. Use the seatbelt and leave enough space between each and every car,” she said.

She also said she hoped her children’s accident “will prevent more accidents on the roads and it can contribute to saving other people’s lives”.