Qatar is still reeling after a gruesome traffic accident yesterday killed three nurses and a hospital staff member, including a pregnant woman, and injured 10.

The driver, Mohamed Bashir, survived with multiple injuries.

The nurses were traveling to work at Al Khor Hospital in a minibus around 6 a.m. when a tire burst, causing the vehicle to flip over several times before hitting a barbed wire fence about 100 feet from the road, media reports state.

At least one passenger is in critical condition on a ventilator and may not survive, the Gulf Times reports.

Hamad Medical Corp. confirmed the death of its employees yesterday, but said the authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident.

Qatar Tribune reports:

According to an eyewitness, the vehicle was over-speeding.

It is suspected that the driver was in a hurry and wanted to cover about 35 kilometres in less than the usual time.

However, people who have known Basheer for long say that he was an experienced and disciplined driver, who never indulged in rash driving.

Even though 120 kilometres an hour is the speed limit on this road, over-speeding is not uncommon, especially during the morning hours.

HMC has also expressed sympathy for the victims’ families but has not said whether they will receive any support.

Among the dead are two women from the Philippines, one Indian woman and one Sudanese national:

• Dany Thomas, 34, from India, a nurse who worked in the emergency department and is survived by her husband and toddler;
• Claribel Obilanter Miranda, 36, who died from her injuries after being taken to the hospital;
• Marianne Lorenzo Cabuay, a nurse who was to deliver her second child next month; and
• Mohyad Nasredin Ahmad, 36, from Sudan, who worked for the medical records department.

Embassies have begun the process of shipping the victims’ bodies home to be buried by their families.

Image courtesy of Gulf Times.

UPDATE (1:39 p.m.): HMC has announced that another employee has died following yesterday’s traffic accident:

It is with great sadness that we confirm the death of a fifth Hamad Medical Corporation employee involved in yesterday’s serious accident outside Al Khor.

Nine other people are still being treated for their injuries in Hamad General Hospital and Al Khor Hospital.

Counseling has been offered to all family and loved ones of those involved in yesterday’s accident…

We ask that the media respect the dignity and privacy of the families affected by yesterday’s tragedy.

Though HMC does not offer details, media reports had made mention of an Egyptian nurse who was placed on a respirator yesterday and not expected to survive.

UPDATE (5:07 p.m.): HMC has retracted its statement, saying the woman in question is not yet dead. She is brain dead.