The Australian truck driver who survived a freak accident on the Bolte Bridge last May, is speaking out nearly a year later.
40-year-old Yousef Jaffary was hurled from the cab after crashing into a barrier, and plunged the equivalent of six stories from the bridge. The impact of the fall broke 19 bones – including his spine, hip, pelvis, knee, femur, feet, and ribs. He dislocated his collar bone, lacerated his kidney, and punctured a lung.
For three weeks after the accident, Jaffary was in a coma. After waking up, he spent a total of four more months recuperating in the hospital. To the surprise of his doctors, Jaffary is walking again through the use of crutches for up to three minutes at a time! Though he has made leaps and bounds in his recovery, Jaffary will never work again. Jaffary is no stranger to violence. In fact, he left the war-torn country of Iraq for Australia in 1994. However, he finds reminders of his accident to be far too traumatic to look at. He avoids viewing photos or videos, and has to set alarms throughout the nights to wake himself up from the night terrors that have haunted him since the accident.
Do you remember this horrendous accident on the Bolte Bridge last May? pic.twitter.com/BzFWGICgEh
— Rory Burnside (@RoryBurnside) February 11, 2014
According to police reports, at car was reported to have clipped his truck while merging just before the accident. Jaffary veered across four lanes of traffic, flipped onto the barrier, and hung from his truck until he fell. The driver was cleared of any blame, and is currently seeking compensation for his injuries.
Sources
Herald Sun News
Herald Sun News
Yahoo! News