Film critic and box office expert Joginder Tuteja had a miraculous escape on early hours of the Sunday morning when the car in which he was traveling was hit by a speeding SUV (Scorpio) on a national highway in Gurgaon. He was accompanied by his wife and son. Even though their Hyundai Eon was smashed to pulp from behind, fortunately there was no casualty though the family was reeling with aftershocks for many hours to follow.
“It was way past midnight when Joginder and his family were returning from a get together at a friend’s place. All was well for most part of the journey but just right outside their apartment when they had taken a U turn, a SUV hit them from behind at a very fast speed. The Eon swirled on the road in circles a couple of times and it was only after its frontside bumper hit the median that it came to a stop. One of the wheels came out completely too. It was a scene straight out of a Rohit Shetty film and the thunderous sound was heard till a distance,” informed an onlooker.
Immediately a crowd gathered and though the SUV just sped away, a bunch of four samaritans who were also traveling in another car stopped by to help the family.
“They immediately came to the rescue,” the onlooker adds, “Unfortunately two of the doors on that side of the car which met with the maximum impact got jammed. Thankfully the car didn’t catch fire. There were around 8-10 men who had gathered and they helped Joginder along with his wife and son to come out of the car through the other doors. There could have been a panic situation but fortunately the four samaritans, one of whom went by the name of Sahil, helped calm the nerves of everyone.”
It was Joginder’s son who felt the maximum brunt since he was sitting at the backseat. The rear mirror crashed and the audio speakers were thrown away too. The 13 year old got a few gashes and bruises. Thankfully he wasn’t bleeding profusely though he needed immediate medical attention. As for Joginder’s wife, she was in shock and couldn’t really recollect the happenings around her for the next few hours. The four youngsters then took them to a nearby hospital where first aid was provided and also recommendations for further checks were shared.
“They rushed to one of the most reputed orthopedic and joint replacement surgeons in the city, Dr. Jayant Arora. He attended to them and after initial x-rays revealed that while Joginder has a fracture on the right shoulder bone, his wife is suffering from a collar bone fracture. Fortunately for them, their son has escaped relatively unscathed with only scratches and bruises. He does have pain in his body but should be fit in a few days. It is as miraculous as it gets,” a family friend adds.
Though it took a few hours for the family to come to terms with the accident, they have now been advised bed rest for at least a week.
“The stars were in their favour, as simple as that,” said Joginder when contacted, “When you look at the shape in which the car is currently, you can well make out the kind of impact that we all felt. Fortunately for us we didn’t suffer any major injury, though given the nature of the accident and the fact that our car continued to swirl on the road for a while, we could well have been caught in something far more severe. I am glad that we all are still able to walk and talk. Thank goodness for that.”
He can’t thank those who saved his family enough.
“Kehte hai naa ki insaaniyat abhi bhi zinda hai. No one on the road fortunately started making videos or just gathered around a crowd. They genuinely wanted to help. We don’t know the four youngsters who helped us, we just know that one of them was called Sahil and belonged to Chandigarh. He and his friends (who were IT professionals from Gurgaon) were there with us for two hours to take us to the hospital and keep calm our nerves. Then Dr. Jayant helped us with his expert advice, as he always does. We are indebted to them all.”
As it happens, all is well that ends well. We wish them a speedy recovery!
