Accident in the desert

David Rincón

I was on a motocross-tour with friends in the Moroccan desert, when unfortunately the tour was over for me before it really started.

The first day one wheel blocked, I fell off the bike and got hit by the engine. I was severely injured and my friends immediately called the emergency services. Still on the way to hospital, I called my wife who stayed home with our two children. She was worried sick as I could not tell her yet how severely injured I was.

This got only clear once I was examined at the military hospital in Guelmim. My clavicle and several rips were broken during the accident. Furthermore one rip perforated the lung (hemopneumothorax). For the fracture of the clavicle I had to undergo surgery.

Although I was in a military hospital, which seemed to have good medical equipment and the necessary medical supply, I still preferred to undergo surgery in Luxembourg. And that is how my wife contacted Luxembourg Air Rescue. The staff of the alert centre took immediately care of my request for repatriation. It was by far the most beautiful moment during my trip when I saw in the faces of my rescuers two days after my wife's call when they came to pick me up from my bed in the hospital to bring me back home in the fully equipped LAR LearJet.