Ibri: “Mama, baba” were the first words that a three-year-old fire victim uttered when he gained consciousness on Friday, his distraught father Mohammad Sulaiman, a Jordanian, told Gulf News on Friday.
Then, the little Sulaiman began asking for his sister, Ghazl, for a while until he lost his consciousness again.
Sulaiman and Ghazl were trapped in their father’s car, which caught fire at a petrol station in Sur province after the father stepped out of the vehicle to buy some things from a nearby shop.
Dramatic videos of the incident showed bystanders rushing to pull the children out of the burning vehicle, leading to an outpouring of sympathy from Omanis as the footage spread on social media.
Sulaiman suffered 30 per cent burns while Ghazl had 70 per cent burns.
Doctors briefly removed the artificial respirator from Sulaiman but put it back later, his father said.
Last week, doctors at the Omani capital’s Al Khoulah hospital had successfully conducted a skin grafting procedure on Sulaiman.
Mohammad had earlier said that he left a lighter in the front seat and that his children were playing with it, which might have sparked the fire.
Sulaiman is expected to be removed from the artificial respirator as he is gradually showing signs of improvement, while his sister remains in a serious condition.
“Doctors told me that Ghazl’s condition will improve and that it is just a matter of time,” said Mohammad.
Omanis have launched a campaign on social media to raise money for the children’s medical bills.
