Sunday 20 / July / 2025
Muscat: Smiling for her daddy, Little Ghazal Suleiman poses for a photograph her family – and doctors – never thought they’d see.
Read here: Omani hero pulls two children from burning car in Sur
Just a few days after medics told her father she had a 10 per cent chance of surviving 70 per cent burns from a car fire, Ghazal is breathing, eating and smiling all on her own.
Ghazal and her brother Suleiman were pulled from their burning family car at a Sur filling station on August 24 after their father had gone to buy groceries. Tragically, it was their father’s lighter that sparked the flames inside the vehicle. Ever since, the family has maintained a bedside vigil. Her three-year-old brother Suleiman was released from hospital two weeks ago and is recovering at home. Ghazal, however, still has a mountain to climb.
Her open wounds are cleaned for four hours every day and the smallest microbe could still take her young life, but that doesn’t stop Ghazal smiling from ear to ear in her hospital bed, surrounded by new toys.
WATCH: Amazing rescue from burning car in Oman
Equipment removed
Her father revealed she is now out of immediate danger and medical equipment attached to her tiny frame for the past five weeks has now been removed.
She is even eating a little. As recently as seven days ago, her father Mohammed wrote a letter to hospital doctors begging them to do all they could and Ghazal’s future looked bleak.
The doctors in-charge of her care had told him she had just a 10 per cent shot at surviving, given her tender years and the 70 per cent burns covering her body.
“She is much better and she’s able to eat now, albeit a little, at least something is entering her stomach. All the support machines have been removed, only the ones for monitoring are still on,” said her father.
“The doctors now just visit her to see her status and monitor her situation, not as frequently as before since she is now stable. The doctors say we have to try and get her to eat normal food and force her to eat it because 50 per cent of the treatment is through food.
“The cleaning process takes time because most of her muscles are exposed. So the doctors take their time cleaning her and wrapping her up. The only fear is that the muscles get infected by microbes,” he added.
“PACDA said that the fire was caused by the children playing with the lighter and if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t have a lighter in the car, and I advise all parents against leaving them in the car with children.”
“The doctors are patching her burns. It’s her third operation. They said there might be a fourth operation but we still don’t know.” Mohammed added: “Medics removed the oxygen device today and they informed us that she is now getting better and can breathe without the need of oxygen devices. She opened her eyes,” said the father.
“I was depressed after the doctors in the hospital informed me about my daughter’s critical condition. They said she has only 10 per cent chance to survive. I couldn’t do anything at that time but to pray for my daughter to help my daughter walk out from the hospital. I wrote a letter to the hospital appreciating their tremendous efforts and asking them to do whatever it takes to save my little Ghazal.
In the letter, Mohammed wrote: “I do not want anything from you but your extended effort to save my children’s lives, especially Ghazal, that is suffering from severe burn. The doctors informed me that her status is critical and that she only has a 10 percent chance to survive.
“My dependence to God is great but I cannot hide the fact that I became depressed when the doctors told me about the situation and I write this letter while shedding tears of blood in fear for my children’s safety and asking God to heal them.”
“Ghazal proved to be the strongest girl in this world. She has been going through a tough time in the hospital including the long daily sessions of burns cleaning. Such sessions takes around four hours as medics are very careful while cleaning. 70 per cent of her body is without skin and there is a risk of blood infection which might in turn risk her life,” said her dad.“I and my family went through the hardest time in our lives. Our lesson is tough enough for other parents to avoid doing the same as I did,” he added.
