Updated at 1:45pm to include information on the memorial service and donation drive.
Many in the Education City community are in mourning following the death of a second-year pre-medical school student who was involved in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday afternoon.
The student, 20-year-old Qatari Jaber Al-Adba, was a student at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q).
The news was confirmed in an email sent to faculty and students by WCMC-Q’s Dean, Dr. Javaid Sheikh, and by Qatar Foundation on Twitter.
Neither named the student, but both expressed condolences:
“We are in touch with the family and will organize a gathering to honor his memory at an appropriate time,” Sheikh said.
It is with great regret that QF and @WCMCQ announce that a WCMCQ student has passed away as a result of a motorcycle accident.
— Qatar Foundation (@QF) August 27, 2014
The QF and @WCMCQ community sends its heartfelt condolences and deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the deceased student.
— Qatar Foundation (@QF) August 27, 2014
A memorial service for Al-Adba at the Education City dorms is scheduled for Thursday at 3:30.
His friends are collecting monetary donations across campus and plan to give the proceeds to a suitable charity in memory of Al-Adba.
https://twitter.com/Vivime/status/504914898397040640
What happened
Speaking to Doha News, several Cornell staffers and students said Al Adba had apparently crashed near the building while trying out his cousin’s motorcycle.
One of Al-Adba’s peers and close friend said:
“He was coming up from the parking lot when he took a bend, lost control and the bike flipped. He died on the spot…I don’t know if he was wearing a helmet, but he generally did.”
A member of the WCMC-Q housekeeping staff who was on the scene added that first responders arrived shortly after the accident, around 3:50pm.
He said he saw the motorcycle a few meters away from an unconscious Al-Adba, who was visibly wounded.
Another Cornell staffer said that medical faculty who were exiting the building as it was nearing the end of the day came over to offer assistance, but declared that Al-Adba had already passed away.
This is the second on-campus death in Education City in recent months. In May, a Texas A&M University at Qatar staffer was killed in a laboratory explosion.
Remembrance
Many of Al-Abda’s friends said they are in shock over his sudden demise.
Some said they remembered him as a funny young student, who always gave his friends rides in his car.
“I just met him yesterday. Hugged him. I can’t believe he’s not with us. We’ve all been crying,” said a friend who spoke to Doha News last night.
She added that a prayer was held last night in his memory, and that the family was holding a condolence visit of sorts today.
“We’ll all be going,” she said.
Note: Doha News has removed the photo of Al-Adba from this story at the request of his family.
Well first off RIP to the young man. I’ve been inside EC many times and seen a few motorcycles, as in 2 or 3 of the same bikes over the last few years, always the same ones, and the guys riding them don’t wear helmets, often wear shorts, often ride with someone on the back, hidden license plates. Aka recipe for disaster
Aren’t the speed limits there about 20 km/hr?
It’s 40km/hr. And usually, no one obeys those rules either…
RIP to this young guy and all the strength to the family. It seems like a one-sided accident where he had just bad luck to get off the bike wrong.
I drove many bikes back home, but here I just don’t do it. It’s just not worth it to put your life in hands of others. Sometimes it aches when I see a few bikes having fun and I miss the feeling of utter freedom, but I’ll have my fun when I’m somewhere else again. But still I sometimes look at the local advertisements…
Biking gets a bad rep here, but the danger on the roads pales in comparison to places like Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, and many other countries, if you’re hyper aware of your surroundings, anticipate the worst in every driver or situation, and wear your gear, you’re no more at risk than you would be elsewhere, plus they have a motogp track where you can push your bike in a controlled environment, this seems to be a single vehicle incident, and nothing is mentioned about speed or other contributing circumstances
Have to disagree, lived in Cyprus and the risk here is ten fold that in Cyprus.
Cyprus has the highest rate of motorcyclist deaths in the EU proportional to its population
Rode bikes in most of Europe and Qatar. Qatar is far far more dangerous. There is no comparison. Drivers, especially those in land cruisers, have zero regard for anyone’s safety and would run you over without a second thought. Traffic in Greece is bad but not homicidal. Here most drivers dont understand the limits of their cars/road conditions and are some of the least courteous/educated. Not to mention roads are of very poor quality when compared to Europe or even UAE.
Riding a motorcycle in Qatar should be used as a punishment.
The attitude towards bikes here is one of unfamiliarity, the attitude in Europe is one of disdain, and the roads here may be bad as far as surface goes, but they’re fairly wide, straight and marked, and not teeming with pedestrians and impatient cars overtaking on blind corners up or down hills on one lane roads with solid white lines, accidents here are going to happen in traffic and in specific places, get a feel for it, ride within your limits and there’s much less going on on the roads here than there is in a busy metropolitan european city
In Europe if you ride slow, keep your eyes open people usually leave you alone, here if youre ride slow, theyll run you over, if you ride quick, youll rear end someone who is going 40 under in the fast lane.
You should try riding through the main expressway between al nasr and landmark at rush hour. Compared to that, Rome at rush hour is a walk in the park.
Oh and ive had people intentionally block me when I was lane splitting and even some throwing shawarma wrappers / karak cups out on in traffic. Not to mention tailgaters who intentionally drive on your rear tire.
Dunno where you got that disdain bit but theyre pretty angry with motorcyclists around here, much more so than Europe.
I’ve had one tailgater here, never karak or shwarma, definitely cigarettes, I’ve done rome in rush hour and the expressway, I don’t know why your experiences are so bad, but the people who worry me the most on the roads here are packs of other riders, oh and don’t ride on a thursday night in general in west bay or any of the other hot spots.
Riding a motorbike in Qatar is the equivalent of writing your own suicide note.
I guess some people just weren’t cut out for life on the road
There is only one truth in the world, death, which is behind of every one, even new born child. There are thousands of new generation youth dies in India by motor bikes. This is a national disaster and national waste.
رحمة الله عليك يا جابر ❤
الله يرحمك و يغمد روحك الجنة، الله يثبتك عند السؤال.
How so? First, bring the statistics with you and two, if you ride without a helmet or without safety gear, you’ll quickly find that the roads are hard wherever you go