A Simple Act Of Kindness Leads To A Lifetime Of Pain
In the midst of the devastating storms that have recently battered the Western Cape, a story of incredible bravery and unimaginable suffering has emerged from the wet asphalt of the N1 highway. Mohammad Majal, a 29-year-old man known to his friends and family as "Mo," is currently fighting for his life in the intensive care unit of Tygerberg Hospital. His ordeal began not with a reckless act, but with a simple gesture of kindness: Mo had borrowed his brother’s bakkie early in the morning to pick up a stranded friend who was unable to find an Uber in the torrential rain. It was a selfless decision that would lead to a 90-minute nightmare and a road to recovery that doctors say could take years.
As Mo was making his way back home, navigating the treacherous conditions under the R300 bridge, he hit a massive pool of water. In a split second, the bakkie hydroplaned, spinning out of control and slamming into the barrier before rolling over the embankment. The violence of the crash was extreme; Mo was wearing his seatbelt, but the older model bakkie lacked airbags. As the vehicle rolled, Mo’s lower body became trapped in the mangled metal, and he was dragged along the ground until the bakkie finally came to a rest—directly on top of him.
Trapped In The Mud: 90 Minutes Between Life And Death
For the next hour and a half, Mohammad Majal lay with his face pressed into the cold, muddy grass, the weight of the broken bakkie crushing his body. The terror of those 90 minutes is hard to comprehend. Every breath was a struggle as he waited in the dark, the sound of the storm raging around him. A passing tow truck driver was the first to spot the wreckage and immediately called for emergency services, but the rescue would be anything but simple.
When firefighters and paramedics arrived on the scene, they were faced with a complex and dangerous extraction. Mo was pinned so tightly under the vehicle that it took rescuers over an hour of painstaking work to lift the metal and pull him free. It was only three hours after the initial crash that Mo was finally admitted to the hospital, his body broken and his life hanging by a thread. The sheer resilience he showed during those 90 minutes under the bakkie has left even seasoned emergency responders in awe of his will to survive.
A Broken Body And A Long Road To Recovery
The extent of Mo’s injuries is staggering. His pelvis is shattered in five places, his right leg and hip are broken, and he has suffered multiple spinal fractures. The physical trauma was so severe that he also sustained a torn rectum and deep, infected wounds on his pelvis and buttocks. Since his admission to Tygerberg Hospital, he has already undergone two major operations, including the fitting of a stoma bag due to his internal injuries.
However, these are only the first steps in what will be a marathon of medical interventions. Doctors have informed his family that Mo will likely require between 15 and 20 operations over the next year. The complexity of his pelvic fractures means that full reconstruction is currently impossible due to the risk of infection and the severity of the surrounding tissue damage. His brother, Faraaz Majal, has been by his side throughout the ordeal, witnessing the moments of incoherence as Mo tried to explain the crash, repeatedly saying, "Lights, no lights, lights, no lights."
A Family’s Plea And A Warning To Others
The financial burden of Mo’s recovery is as daunting as the physical one. Like many young South Africans, Mo does not have medical insurance, and the cost of 20 operations and long-term rehabilitation is far beyond the family's means. Faraaz has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the mounting medical expenses, a desperate plea for a man who was only trying to help a friend when tragedy struck.
"All that matters is that he’s still here with us," Faraaz shared, his voice filled with both grief and gratitude for the rescuers who saved his brother’s life.
As the Western Cape continues its cleanup after the storms, the Majal family’s story serves as a sobering reminder of the dangers on our roads during extreme weather. Faraaz has issued a stark warning to other motorists to be extremely cautious of water pools, especially under bridges where drainage can fail. For Mohammad Majal, a single pool of water changed his life in the blink of an eye. Now, as he faces a year of surgery and pain, his family and a community of supporters are rallying behind him, hoping that the man who survived 90 minutes under a bakkie has the strength to survive the long journey home.
