Manama: The family of a Bahraini driver held in Jordan for his involvement in a fatal accident has appealed for help to repatriate him.
Maytham Abdullah Yacoob has been barred by the Jordanian authorities from leaving the Hashemite Kingdom until all passengers on the bus he was driving from Bahrain to Syria sign a document they will not hold him responsible for the accident in which three Bahrainis, two women and one man, were killed.
However, four of the 58 passengers have refused to absolve Maytham of the responsibilities in the accident.
A father whose daughter died said that he could not bring himself to clear the driver, while three women who are still in Jordan for medical treatment have reversed an earlier stance and insisted that that they were not thinking clearly when they initially went to court to absolve him of the responsibilities in the accident.
"We do appreciate the feelings and emotions of all those who were directly or indirectly affected by the accident, but what happened was bound to happen. It was fate," Maytham's mother, On Hassan, said. "All witnesses said that Maytham was not driving carelessly and that he swerved the bus to avoid colliding with a long vehicle," the mother told Al Watan daily.
According to the family, Maytham is now facing financial difficulties in Jordan where he has been staying after a Jordanian man bailed him out of detention.
"We need him home where he has been taking care of us after his father died. He is looking after me and after two of his four sisters and his unemployed brother," the mother said.
According to the Jordanian police, 51 were also injured when the bus overturned in December near Shweir, 25 kilometres northeast of Zarqa city, after the driver, seemingly, lost control of the vehicle.
