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Tragic Hokkaido accident tears apart family of four 👨🏾‍👩🏻‍👧🏽‍👦🏽

Karthik Subramaniam recalls the haunting screams of his wife moments before blacking out after a collision with a lorry in Hokkaido, Japan. His wife, Lin Xiuyue, and their four-month-old daughter, Aahana did not survive the catastrophe.


Source: Hokkaido Broadcasting

According to Karthik who was manoeuvring their rented car, road conditions did not permit a clear view of the upcoming intersection that was not shown on the GPS map he was using for navigation. Before he knew it, it was too late.😥


"The road was up and down. You can't see anything because there's snow on both sides... You just follow the road and keep driving. So (at) the very last minute, like maybe 150m or something, I saw the stop sign. Then I started applying the brakes, but it was too late to stop."🛑

After he regained consciousness, he got out of the car to help his family. His wife lay on his lap, bleeding heavily as he tried to give her air while a passer-by performed chest compressions.


With help from the local drivers, the mother-daughter pair were rushed to the hospital, but to no avail, as the doctors failed to restart Lin's heart while Aahana never recovered from the shock. Meanwhile, 3-year-old Aanya got stitches on her head and Karthik suffered a hip fracture. He was given the options of surgery or letting it heal naturally with the help of painkillers, and chose the latter - he couldn't be bedridden since he still had to care for his daughter.


Prior to the calamity, their trip was going smoothly and the family had visited many places such as a zoo in Asahikawa. Though this was their first family trip to Japan, the couple had travelled there many times, including six visits to Hokkaido and preferred driving on their own.


Since the incident, Karthik's sister had flown into Singapore from India and his mother would be here the next month. Lin's family and friends have also been very supportive, motivating Karthik to carry on.


(Source: The Star)


 

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