Kristy and I drove to Oman this weekend to renew her visa. She drove; I relaxed in the passenger seat. On the way there we saw an incredible accident. There was a cloud of sand on the opposite side of the road. Suddenly, a Land Cruiser flew over the concrete wall and into our lane. It rolled about 6 times toward us. As it rolled a man in a dish dash was thrown through one of the windows. He flew through the air and then rolled along the ground. He had been ejected from the car and narrowly missed being crushed. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I felt completely calm as it was happening. I never felt like we were in any danger until I noticed parts of the car flying towards us. A huge spring from the suspension barely missed us. Kristy was frozen, stopped in the middle of the road. I told her to move to the side. I realized that the situation was still dangerous so I told her to be careful and stay aware. I got out, she stayed in the car. I went to the guy in the dish dash who was writhing in pain on the pavement. His ass was showing, he wasn’t wearing underwear. He managed to get up and walk to the side of the road where he laid down again. I’m not sure how badly he was hurt but he stayed conscious the whole time. I think he only had a few bumps and maybe a few broken bones. I looked into the car which was lying upside down. The Arab music was still blasting and the windshield wipers were going. CDs and other items from the car were scattered on the ground. The airbags were out. Nobody else was in the car. Then I saw that there was another passenger who had also been ejected. A man was holding him but he was unconscious. I went over and told the guy to put him down and not to move him. The injured guy was a younger man, maybe 20 years old. He was lying face down in an unnatural position on the windshield of the car which was about 40 feet from the car itself. His eyes were rolled back in his head and he was convulsing periodically as he fought for life. There was a small amount of blood in his mouth and a bone was sticking out of his ankle. The convulsions slowed and finally stopped. He was dead. I don’t know CPR and I didn’t know if I should move him or not. There wasn’t anything anyone could do for him. An ambulance came and they moved him onto a stretcher and took him away. I noticed a 1 dirham coin and a cell phone belonging to the dead man on the pavement. I thought about taking the coin as a reminder of how lucky I am but I didn’t want the curse. I left it. We continued our drive without speaking for the better part of an hour. Both of us were shaken. If we had been driving 5 km/hour faster, we probably would have been hit by the Land Cruiser and killed. I have never seen someone die before. I feel bad for the guy. He was hanging out with his friend, jamming to some music, and 5 seconds later he is dying on the pavement.
Be careful out there everyone. Be thankful for all you have. Pray for those who aren’t so lucky.