TRAVERSE Issue 07 - August 2018 | Page 79

possible. Returning to the hospital later that afternoon, I noticed that all the po- lice had cleared out, and I instant- ly had a sense of 'Oh no!!! What has happened?'. Thinking the worst, yet thankfully the rider was still safe in the hospital resting. I quickly understood why the po- lice had all left. The rider had agreed to chat with one of the police officers to answer a few questions, eventual- ly making the mistake of telling the police officer where his passport was. The police had now got what they come for. The nightmare had only just begun. After some discussion and numer- ous phone calls, the Rep and I now had to make our way down to the police station, to try and retrieve the passport. Reaching the police station, it was to my horror that we found one of the tour crew members had been incarcerated for the entire day with- out food or water. We sat in some kind of hearing for hours on end with the police stations Inspector and Officers, and several other parties including the injured local’s family members. There was a lot of back and forth in Nepalese be- tween everyone, eventually with both TRAVERSE 79 parties coming to some sort of agree- ment. At the time the details weren’t clear to me. Once the signing of documents was completed we were all allowed to leave. It was close to midnight by the time I got back to my hotel and had something to eat. Before I knew it, I was back at the hospital, only to find that the rider had been transferred to another hospital for emergency sur- gery. His conditioned had deteriorat- ed overnight, to a now life-threatening situation. We headed there immediately, and as we arrived, he was wheeled out from post operation and straight into the Intensive Care Unit. Amazingly, both injured parties in- volved in the accident, had become roommates in the same ICU laying in opposite hospital beds. It’s hard to imagine how tense the situation was with the injured Nepal- ese’s family glaring at the guy who had collided their family member? Concerns for the rider’s safety was now in question. I was quite blown away that this was even allowed. Eventually my concerns were eased as a security guard was appointed to ICU, to ensure that nothing happened be- tween both parties.