Five Pakistani-Britons die in car crash in Makkah but one-year-old baby survives

A one-year-old baby has miraculously survived a car crash which wiped out five members of a British family while they were on pilgrimage to Makkah.
Mohammed Eisa Daniel Hayat was found cradled in the arms of his dying grandfather Shaukat Ali Hayat, 56, after the taxi they were travelling in left a motorway before crashing into a concrete bridge. Moments before, his soon-to-be-married aunt Saira Zenub Hayat had sent a desperate text message from her mobile saying that the car was travelling ‘too fast’. She also died in the crash along with her mother Abida, 47, and 33-year-old brother Mohammed Isshaq Hayat. Mohammad’s heavily pregnant wife Bilques – baby Mohammed’s mother – was also killed. The child was taken to hospital where he was treated for a dislocated shoulder, broken arm and ribs. Mr Hayat’s brother Sma said the one-year-old had been dubbed the ‘Saudi miracle baby’, and added that he was only alive because of his grandfather’s actions. ‘He saw what happened as the car went out of control,’ the 58-year-old said. ‘He grabbed the baby, clutched him in his arms and cushioned him. ‘His actions saved the child’s life. The boy has lost everyone but luckily he has pulled through.’ The Hayat family, from Newport, South Wales, had been in Saudi Arabia for the wedding of 29-year-old Saira and were performing the Makkah pilgrimage while they were there. As part of their trip, they had also decided to visit family in the city of Jeddah and hired a taxi for four hours to undertake the journey. They set off from Makkah at around 5am on Friday. Shortly afterwards, Saira texted a relative to say that she was worried about the vehicle’s speed.
The taxi then ran straight into a concrete bridge, somersaulted off the road and came to rest on its roof in a ditch. Rescuers rushed to their aid and thought that the whole family had perished, until they found Mohammed miraculously still alive. His family – including 30-year-old mother who was seven months pregnant – were buried in Jannat-ul-Baqi cemetery in Medina shortly after the accident. Twenty relatives have flown out to Saudi to visit the Hayats’ resting place and bring the little boy home. The crash has been blamed on the driver going to sleep at the wheel. An investigation is underway. Mr Hayat, orginally from Pakistan, was a teacher and well-known member of the Muslim community in Newport. His daughter Saira worked as a pharmacist while her brother Mohammed had hoped to do a PhD in neuroscience at university. He was described as an excellent student. The family were also involved in a charity work and in 2010 they helped raise funds for victims of flooding in Pakistan.