On Friday the 2nd January Karmanj Peshraw Abdulkareem, Zirak Jalil Ismail, Debar Peshraw Abdulkareem and Renas Hussen Kaka from our team in Erbil, Kurdistan were bringing clients back to their office when their vehicle was waved down by a man in the middle of the road.

Left to right: Carl Blinston, Shaho Ghareeb, Zirak Jalil Ismail, Karmanj Peshraw Abdulkareem, Oliver Westmacott, Debar Peshraw Abdulkareem, Adrian Blanchette, Daniel Menard.

On Friday the 2nd January Karmanj Peshraw Abdulkareem, Zirak Jalil Ismail, Debar Peshraw Abdulkareem and Renas Hussen Kaka from our team in Erbil, Kurdistan were bringing clients back to their office when their vehicle was waved down by a man in the middle of the road. Our convoy stopped and after conducting safety checks, our team left a vehicle to assist. Moments earlier a local 4×4 had left the road, passed over the cliff and landed in the river below. Karmanj was quick to assist; he jumped down the rocks to help youngest of the three children, a little girl approximately 8 months old, who was lying face down in the shallow water. She had stopped breathing and Karmanj conducted CPR until she could breathe unassisted. His colleague Debar broke into the vehicle to find the mother unconscious behind the steering wheel. She had been injured badly, her face covered in blood and like her daughter she was not breathing. He quickly removed her seat belt and dragged to safety. Debar cleared her airway which allowed her to begin breathing unassisted.

Renas and Zerak attended to two older girls who had been thrown clear of the car during the crash. Both girls had multiple lacerations and impact fractures but were conscious. Our team continued to administer first aid to the family until a passing Peshmerga team arrived on the scene. The Peshmerga took the family to nearby Mergashor hospital where they were later transferred to the Zheen Hospital in Erbil. Later in the day our team took the time to visit the family and was praised by for their support. The quick thinking and medical response from our team certainly saved the lives of two people. Oliver Westmacott, President and COO presented the team with commendation certificates and praised the guys for their life saving efforts.