By Loo Jia Huey
September 25, 2019. The Appel family was travelling on the Karak Highway back to their hometown. It was pouring heavily and the sky was dark as charcoal, although it was only fifteen-past-one.
Millie and Molly could not wait to arrive at their grandparents’ house in Bentong to celebrate Grandma Melanie’s 80th birthday. The two children were happily playing “Uno” in the backseat, oblivious of the surrounding.
Just as Papa Appel was picking up speed, the car lost control. In a split of a second, it spun around in circles and crashed to the side of the road. Everyone screamed at the top of their voices.
The next moment was a dead silence. Papa Appel had knocked his head hard on the steering wheel. There was blood all over the body. Mama Appel, who was sitting beside, had lost consciousness. Her head had also smashed onto the windscreen, while Millie and Molly had a terrible cut across their foreheads.
Thankfully, an ambulance was driving on it way on the same road not far behind them. It immediately pulled over by the roadside. The paramedics worked hard at extracting the body of Papa Appel. Meanwhile, another two ambulances and a fire engine arrived at the scene.
Although it was pouring, they did not give up on rescuing the accident victims. Mohamad Abu, one of the paramedics, tells his side of the story: “We had a lot of difficulties moving the victim onto the ambulance due to the heavy downpour. We had to cover him to ensure that his wounds would not touch the rain. Finally, with the help of some onlookers, we managed to place the victim onto the ambulance.”
Within half an hour, Millie, Molly and Mama Appel were also rushed to the ambulance.
The medical team at the hospital was ready to receive the patients. The doctors were waiting in the operating theatre for Papa Appel to be wheeled in.
For the next four hours, the doctors worked hard, trying their best to do all they could to resuscitate Papa Appel.
For the next 48 hours, Papa Appel was unconscious. Meanwhile, another team of doctors and nurses carried out the operation on Mama Appel, trying to save her right arm. After assessing the condition, the surgeon decided to amputate it.
The nurses were trying to remove the shattered glasses from Millie and Molly’s forehead. “We’re going to die of suffering from pain,” they groaned, as one of the nurses told them that they had to go for a few stiches.
The tragic accident nearly took their lives. However, with prayers from family and church members, Papa Appel regained his consciousness, and was discharged from the hospital a week later.
After several months of physiotherapy, Mama Appel had slowly learnt how to do basic things with her left arm again, while the scars on Millie and Molly’s forehead would remain there for a long time.
When interwiewed, Papa Appel regretted for driving restlessly and made his family suffer. “I must admit that it is not worth it at all!” he says. “I want to advise everyone who is driving on the road to be always follow the speed limit, especially when it is raining heavily.”
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