Toddler who survived devastating crash was taken to morgue in body bag

Mohammed Eisa Danial Hayat, from Newport, south Wales was the sole survivor of the devastating crash during a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on February 8.

The unconscious child underwent a second ordeal when he was zipped into a body bag and transported to a morgue. But as he was being put into storage his body began moving and stunned officials rushed him to hospital.

The potentially catastrophic mistake was revealed for the first time yesterday as grieving relatives spoke of the accident.

They have also launched a campaign lobbying for better regulation of taxis in Saudi Arabia after the tragic events of last February.

Eisa and his family were travelling in a taxi when it hit a bridge and flipped over, killing the driver and the whole of his family.

The driver, understood to have been going too fast at the time, was uninsured and is believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Eisa suffered a dislocated shoulder, broken arm and ribs in the crash but survived thanks to his grandfather holding him tightly.

His mother Bilques, 30, who was pregnant at the time and due to give birth in eight weeks, died in the accident. Also killed were his father Mohammed, 33, grandfather Shaukat, 56, grandmother Abida, 47, and his aunt Saira, 29.

The devastating crash happened as the family were in the country for Umrah, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

Officials on the scene in Saudi Arabia were so certain nobody had survived Eisa was taken to the morgue with his family and the driver.

The toddler, who has since turned two, is now back in Wales and being looked after by members of his parents’ extended family.

“They thought ‘oh, the little baby was dead, no-one could’ve survived that.’ So they took him, zipped him up in the bag and took him to the morgue,” Shaukat’s brother, Shazada Hayat, told Wales On Sunday.