Our journey
in India has come to a halt. Some days ago we met with a serious car accident.
God miraculously saved our lives. Together with our dear covenant friend Zephry
D’Souza we were on the way to Ongole. We had just left Warangal. We travelled
in an Innova taxi which is a very good, safe and comfortable car for long
journeys. The estimated time to reach was six hours. The road from Warangal was
very good and the driver was a fast driver, – to my delight.

We left our
lodging place by seven o’clock in the morning to take breakfast in a nice
hotel. We left the hotel about eight o’clock and after about one hour we all
dozed off. Suddenly I woke up for the car was jumping, branches hit the front
window and at the sides. I felt like everything was shaking and moving as we
had one big bump before we hit something very hard and continued humping bumping
until the car came to halt. I was sitting behind so I didn’t see much more than
branches hitting the windscreen. I heard Solveig screaming in pain and Zephry
shouting Jesus in a desperate call for help. When the car stopped smoke was
coming up from the engine.

I tried to
help Solveig when we came to a halt. She was in great pain. I was so relieved
when she could move her legs. Zephry injured his foot. He could not walk
properly. I only bit my tongue. Otherwise I was totally ok. As the smoke from
the engine came to an end I helped Solveig to lay down in the back seat.
Amazingly I was calm enough to take some pictures. Only then it began to dawn on
me the seriousness of the accident. And I was able to recall what had happened
to us.

I came to
know from the driver that the right front wheel punctured. As he was driving at
a high speed he lost control of the car which crossed over to the opposite side
of the road. There we went off the road, trough some bushes and smaller trees.
We actually were flying over a big culvert about six meters wide. When we
landed at the cement wall we had a big bang before we hit a tree and continued
for another thirty meters before we stopped in a field. I was quite shaken when
I realized what had taken place. By the grace of God we were alive. We could
easily have collided with a car coming the opposite way. If we only had been
half a meter more to the left, we would have hit the tree head on, and we would
have been gone. If he had gone into the culvert, we would have had no chance to
survive either. But God saved our lives again and we are so grateful to be
alive.

We had to
wait for three hours before we had any assistance. When the owner of the taxi
arrived, he showed no interest in us and our welfare. He was only concerned for
the car which was wrecked.

After
waiting for three hours in the wrecked car and the hot sun we eventually were
taken to a village hospital nearby for examination. The doctor gave Solveig
some painkillers and advised us to proceed to Ongole.

A very kind
pastor and his caring wife came to the hospital and offered their hospitality.
We went to their home to take rest as I thought it would be good for Solveig to
rest and have the painkillers work before we proceeded to our destination. We
only reached Ongole after eight hours as the owner of the taxi directed the
driver to leave the highway to take us on an extra trip of more than eighty
kilometers on narrow and bumping village roads. Solveig was in pain all the way
and I felt so sorry for her.