ABU DHABI // A nanny who was injured more than two months ago in a road accident that killed three young sisters is unlikely to recover fully, Indonesian Embassy officials said on Tuesday. According to a source at Zayed Military Hospital, the 24-year-old woman, who suffered serious head injuries, has been transferred from the intensive care unit to the female surgical ward. She was semi-conscious but could neither move nor speak.
"She was still in a coma the last time we visited her in hospital before Ramadan," said Hannan Hadi, the head of the embassy's consular section. "According to the doctor, it was unlikely that she would return to her normal condition, even after being out of the coma." The girls, aged seven, six and four, were the daughters of Salem al Mansouri. They were hit by a car near the Carrefour supermarket on Airport Road on June 29.
Their three Indonesian nannies, who had been looking after them while the girls' parents were in Saudi Arabia, were also hit. The two other nannies, 24 and 22, suffered only minor injuries. The accident sparked The National's Road to Safety campaign. The driver of the car, an Emirati man, was arrested in connection with the accident. Mr Hadi said he and two other embassy officials visited the nanny in the intensive care unit last month.
"Her eyes were open, but it maybe was due to the effect of the medicine," he said. "We asked her to move her hands or legs, to check her level of consciousness, but I think she did not have enough energy." Mr Hadi said that in July the nanny, who is from central Java, underwent a tracheotomy, a procedure to assist her breathing. At the time of the accident, she had worked for the family for 18 months. Both Mr al Mansouri and the police were waiting for her to recover, Mr Hadi said on Tuesday.
Lely Meiliani, the first secretary at the Indonesian Embassy, said the hospital had not asked the embassy to pay the cost of the woman's care at the hospital. "The hospital or the UAE Government will pay for all her medical bills as of this time," Ms Meiliani said. "But when the case goes to trial, the court will eventually decide on the person responsible for these." An investigation was continuing since Mr al Mansouri was expected to sue the driver, Mr Hadi said. He stressed that the embassy was not directly involved in the police investigation and would not intervene.
The embassy wanted only to ensure that the women received fair treatment, he said. In July, Mr Hadi said it was likely that the nannies would be called as witnesses in any court proceedings. "The police are waiting for the nanny at the hospital to recover," he said. "The nurse at the hospital informed us that the brother of the driver had visited the nanny. We believe that he is concerned about her welfare."
Although the two other nannies were questioned by police, they were released soon afterwards and returned to their employer's home. Mr Hadi said the embassy did not know whether Mr al Mansouri had sent the two nannies home to Indonesia. "The police told me at the end of July that the employer would send them home because of their traumatic experience," he said. "It was not because he blamed them for what happened."
rruiz@thenational.ae