DUBAI In a holiday gone horribly wrong, a French tourist riding a quad bike broke his pelvis in two and suffered multiple fractures when he came crashing down a deceptive dune in the desert near Dubai on April 7.
Mary Traore, 34, who underwent emergency surgery at the Mediclinic Welcare Hospital in Garhoud, told XPRESS shortly before being airlifted to Paris: “No matter how good you are, never ride a quad bike in the desert without familiarising yourself with the terrain.”
Traore, a print delivery man in Paris, said: “I am no stranger to quad bikes. But I’ve learned the hard way that riding them in the desert sands is a completely different ballgame from being on the roads back home.”
He said the accident occurred shortly after he and his brother Mamadou, 32, both visiting Dubai for the first time, rented two quad bikes for Dh400 each from a roadside shop on the Oman Hatta Road.
“We had barely taken off on the machines when the mishap occurred. I went up a dune without realising how steep it was. The next thing I knew, I was thrown off the bike and came crashing down. The force with which I landed on my back was so great that I lay there immobilised and in immense pain,” said Traore.
Bleeding heavily
Dr Yousuf Fallahas, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Mediclinic Welcare Hospital, where Traore was rushed, said: “The patient was bleeding heavily when he came to us and we nearly lost him. He had suffered an open book injury of the pelvis. In other words, his pelvis had split into two parts which were 4cm apart. He also had six fractures between the pelvis and the spine. The pelvis ring was completely disrupted and the injury was threatening to affect his iliac (pelvic) artery, urinary bladder, urethra and ureter. So our immediate task was to hold the pelvis together by any means and stop the bleeding.
“We achieved this by tightly wrapping a bedsheet around the pelvis. Once his blood pressure stabilised, we operated on him, inserting four pins and three rods.”
Dr Fallaha said Traore would be undergoing another surgery to fix the pelvic ring in Paris. “Hopefully, he should be able to walk six weeks after that surgery.”
Traore said although driving four-wheel quads is considered safer and easier than two-wheel motorcycles, sandy dunes can be very deceptive. The key is to ride sideways, so the rider knows what’s on the other side of a dune. “Also, never go over the top. Make sure you have the helmet on. Thankfully, I did. Take time to study the terrain. Get a guide to show you around. Ask questions, so you don’t have any surprises. Remember, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.”
With inputs from Abdel-Krim Kallouche
