A couple in the back of a taxi involved in a high-speed crash have spoken of their long, challenging road to recovery.
Muhammad Danyaal, 19, Farhan Patel and Mohammed Jibrael Mukhtar, both aged 18, and taxi driver Masrob Ali, 54, all died after their two vehicles crashed in Bolton last Sunday.
The three teenagers were inside a red Seat Leon when it collided with a Citroen C4 Picasso, which was being driven by Uber driver Masrob, on Wigan Road at around 12.45am.
Still in her hospital bed, Georgina Daniels, 28, told the Manchester Evening News through tears: ‘I can’t fathom how we’re all still alive – it should have taken our lives.
‘I have no idea how we’re all still here after seeing what happened to everyone and the state we are all in.’
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Alongside her in the taxi was her husband, 29-year-old sales manager Tom Daniels who she married seven months.
Both have been left with devastating injuries.
‘We’ve basically always lived together – even when we didn’t have our own place, we would pack bags and stay at each other’s mum’s house for three or four days at a time.
‘We’ve never been separate for too long. Now it’s our first year of marriage and we are going to have to live apart with life-changing injuries, with no end date.
‘My legs are okay but my other injuries are going to need 24-hour care, but Tom now has major mobility issues, especially using stairs. We will both need 24-hour care for a long time.
‘All of the recovery, rebuilding, the things we will have to get over. And we will have to do it apart. It’s cruel. There are no words to describe it.’
(Picture: Phil Taylor / SWNS)
Muhammad Danyaal, 19, Farhan Patel and Mohammed Jibrael Mukhtar, both aged 18, and taxi driver Masrob Ali, 54, all died after their two vehicles crashed in Bolton in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The three teenagers were inside a red Seat Leon when it collided with a Citroen C4 Picasso, which was being driven by Uber driver Masrob, on Wigan Road at around 12.45am.
Footage revealed the Seat Leon allegedly reached 120mph on a residential road just 24 hours before the collision.
Footage published online by Narkos Performance Tuning shows a car, which has the same number plate and detailing as the Seat Leon, being modified to go up to 410 Brake Horsepower (BHP) and 550 Newton-metres (Nm) torque.
This is almost double the average specifications of the model Cupra made in 2013 – which is when the vehicle was first registered – which are usually sold at 261 bhp and 350 Nm torque.
These modifications allow for more engine output and quicker acceleration behind every turn.
A picture seen by Metro also shows one of teenagers who was killed in the crash, Mohammed, standing with the ‘souped up’ vehicle.
Metro has cross-referenced the reg plate of the ‘souped up’ vehicle with the car Mohammed is standing next to and a photograph from the fatal scene, and they all appear to have the same number plate.
Georgina added: ‘There needs to be road safety realisations, but that should have been done much earlier. This kind of danger can’t just be acceptable, where you just say ‘watch out.
‘When people drive like that, it’s done for attention and status. It needs to be that, collectively, everyone doesn’t give it any attention or status. It just needs to be that it doesn’t happen.’
Mr Masrob, who was described as ‘a safe driver’ by his daughter, was driving a passenger at the time of the crash.
Georgina said: ‘[Mr Ali’s death is] devastating in itself. It was just a short journey and he was nothing but lovely to us.
‘I have read as much as I can about him, I know he had a family, and that people really loved him.
‘Lives have been lost, lives have been changed. We can never take this back, it will stay with us for the rest of our lives.’
Georgina said: ‘[Our outcome] changes every single minute. We have both got so many different injuries, we can’t make one decision without looking at the rest.
‘We have no expectations, we are just living hour by hour.’
A GoFundMe statement read: ‘Between the passengers, they have sustained severe and life-altering injuries, including serious internal injuries, injuries to the brain and unimaginable trauma.
‘The road ahead for all of them is long, uncertain, and deeply challenging, requiring extensive medical care, time, and support.’
If you would like to contribute, head to the GoFundMe here.
