The funeral procession for victims of a fatal truck crash in Arsal. (Credit: Sarah Abdallah/ L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Thousands of mourners from Arsal and neighboring villages attended Sunday's funeral of eight people killed in a truck crash in Arsal the evening before. Meanwhile, the hospital that treated the truck driver, who ultimately succumbed to his wounds, issued a statement defending itself against charges of neglect.
Here's what we know:
• The truck driver, Mohamad Deeb Ghadada, was transporting a load of rocks from an area quarry to a factory owned by his family when he lost control of the truck after losing its brakes while going downhill, crashed into a number of cars and a house, and burst into flames, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the area reported.
• The driver was transported to Lebanese Hospital Geitaoui following the crash. Some, including Baalbeck-Hermel MP Melhem Hojeiri, accused the hospital of negligence; Hojeiri claimed in a statement that Ghadada had died "waiting at the hospital door" without being admitted to the emergency room, due to an alleged lack of beds.
• The hospital, in a statement issued in response, said that the patient had been admitted "as soon as he arrived" and noted that he had suffered from second and third degree burns on 75% of his body on his arrival, and from cardio-respiratory arrest, along with other injuries. “The medical team tried to resuscitate him by all possible means, but he died despite all medical efforts,” the statement said.
• The other victims included a married couple and their four children along with another relative. The mother who died in the crash was in her ninth month of pregnancy.
• A recent analysis of traffic collision data by L'Orient Today found that while the number of crashes has trended down since 2019, the crashes that do occur have become more deadly.
Reporting contributed by Sarah Abdallah.