What a 16yo boy asked his rescuers from inside fatal wreckage

Daniel Omand knew it was bad when his brother Haydn’s vehicle and a ute collided on Tuesday night. But trapped in Haydn’s new car, and fighting for life, he couldn’t bear any bad news.

Haydn Omand, 17, left, was killed in a head-on crash near Newcastle on Tuesday night. His brother Daniel, right, is in a coma and critically injured. Pictures: Supplied

Fighting for life in the back seat of his brother’s new car, a teenage boy begged rescuers not to tell him if his only sibling had survived their head-on crash.

Daniel Omand, 16, knew it was bad when his brother, Haydn, 17, and another vehicle collided head-on outside Newcastle on Tuesday night. But with his own struggles ahead, he couldn’t bear any bad news.

“Dan said to the ambulance officers: “Don’t tell me anything until I get through this,” the boys’ distraught mother Mary Fenech said.

“I think he knows Haydn didn’t survive. He would have seen it from where he was sitting, but until he’s out of a coma himself, I’m not going to tell him.”

From Daniel’s bedside at Royal North Shore Hospital’s intensive care unit, Ms Fenech said that fatal journey began as one of the happiest days of Haydn’s life.

The teen had been working at McDonald’s to save up for his first car. After buying it on Sunday on The Central Coast, this was his first trip home to the Hunter Valley.

“I drove the boys down to pick up the car, and a family friend came with us so he could supervise Haydn driving it home, and I followed,” she said.

The brothers’ day started as the best of Haydn's life, their mum said. Picture: GoFundMe

“He (the family friend) said the boys were so happy … Haydn was so excited and Dan was so proud of his big brother.”

But at about 9pm, on a detour with no signage or street lights while road work was carried out on the freeway, Ms Fenech, travelling right behind her sons, watched as a utility came over a crest, and collided head-on with Haydn’s car.

COULDN’T STOP SCREAMING

“I screamed, I couldn’t stop screaming. I knew I had to get to the car, so I pulled over where I could and I ran for the boys,” she said.

“I saw Haydn, then someone grabbed me and pulled me away I knew it was bad.

“When I saw them put the cover up over the car, I knew he hadn’t made it.”

Police and paramedics helped Ms Fenech into the Westpac rescue helicopter where Daniel had been placed in an induced coma ahead of being flown to the Sydney hospital.

She praised the medical staff on board the chopper, who kept her at ease and even signalled a thumbs up when “there were bumps in the air or strange noises” to let her know it was routine, and not to panic.

“Dan’s got a long fight ahead. I only just realised after speaking to the doctors just now, how life or death it really was,” she said.

Among Dan’s shocking injuries are a torn aorta, a fractured hip, cuts to his eyes and face, and reduced blood flow to his spinal cord, about which the full extent of damage won’t be known for some time.

“He’s got a long road ahead … and I’ve said I’m not burying Haydn until Dan is able to be there, even if it’s only for a day pass,” she said.

A Go Fund Me account set up to support Ms Fenech and Dan, and help with Haydn’s funeral costs, can be found here.

Originally published as What a 16yo boy asked his rescuers from inside fatal wreckage