Yahoo News Family of schoolteacher who survived Rotherhithe tunnel crash praise 'lifesavers'
The family of a schoolteacher who survived a three-car smash inside the Rotherhithe tunnel have paid tribute to the emergency services who saved his life.
Father-of-four Shafiqul Haidhar, 36, was in his Toyota Yaris when it was involved in a horror smash in the early hours of the morning.
He was pulled from the wreckage in a critical condition after suffering serious breaks to his ribs, chest bone, a hip and a knee.
He was placed in a medically induced coma and taken to hospital.
A CCTV picture from a camera in the tunnel released by Transport for London shows debris and wrecked cars strewn across both lanes.
Mr Haidhar’s brother, Kaisor Ahmed, 38, got a phone call at 4am from their distraught mother who had just been told that her son was on life support after the smash on December 4.
He told the Standard: “My mum put me on the phone to the police and they told me he had a crash in the tunnel and was in a critical condition. I rushed out of bed and got to the hospital. He was covered in tubes; I didn’t know if he was going to live or not.
“The emergency services are the best people in the world — they do not get enough credit. If it weren’t for them then my brother wouldn’t be alive.
“Everyone needs to be thanked, the paramedics, the police and the hospital staff who right now are helping him to recover.”
The “popular and caring” secondary school teacher has been visited in hospital by pupils, his brother said.
Mr Ahmed added: “There are a lot of people, including his pupils, who are very worried about him. He is in the best place for him now and he is recovering slowly. It may take a couple of months but I’m just happy he’s alive and there are good people taking care of him.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “Police were called at approximately 2.15am on Wednesday, December 4 to reports of a road traffic collision involving three cars in the Rotherhithe tunnel.”
He said police and London Ambulance Service attended the scene and a man was taken to hospital in a critical condition. There were no reports of any other serious injuries. There have been no arrests.
