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A routine doctor’s appointment turned into a nightmare for 51-year-old Jorjina Odisho when an out-of-control vehicle smashed into a clinic in Niddrie. The tragic incident, which occurred on Monday, claimed the life of a male pedestrian and left Odisho with severe injuries.
In an emotional recount to 9News, the mother of two reflected on the timing that may have spared her life. “I was 10 minutes early for my appointment,” she shared, emphasizing how fortunate she felt despite the circumstances. “I thought, ‘I’ve died. That’s it. That is the last minute for me,'” Odisho recalled, still shaken by the experience.
Odisho described the devastation, saying, “Very lucky, very lucky because the whole building was on me.” She was airlifted to the hospital, where she received treatment for her injuries after being violently thrown across the room by the impact.
“Very lucky, very lucky because the whole building was on me.”
Odisho was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after being flung across the room during the crash.
She woke up in the emergency room without knowing what had happened.
“I was scared because I’ve got two girls and my husband… I said I’m not going to leave them alone.”
The crash fractured Odisho’s leg and left her in a neck brace.
”The police… they asked me, ‘Do you know what’s happened?’ I said, ‘Yes I think it’s a bomb,’” Odisho said.
“And he laughed and he said, ‘No, the car hit you’.”
Dr Rafid Hamdan was in the room when Odisho was injured, but he was not hurt in the crash.
“The patient was flying… she was like flying to the ceiling,” Hamdan said yesterday.
The crash killed one man who was on the footpath near the doctor’s office on Keilor Road.
He is yet to be formally identified.
“I feel sorry for him,” Odisho added.
The 63-year-old driver was questioned by police and released without charge.
Detectives are not ruling anything out, including whether he suffered a diabetic episode.
Detective Inspector Craig McEvoy said on Monday that the car, a silver Alfa Romeo, did not appear to brake before it smashed into the medical centre.
“We’re still considering all options, whether it’s a medical event, whether it’s a mechanical event, whether it’s driver error, speed, fatigue, drugs or alcohol,” McEvoy said.
McEvoy said the pedestrian who was killed was sadly in the “wrong place at the wrong time”.
”It’s really tragic that one [pedestrian] has lost his life, but really fortunate that there’s not multiple,” he said.
An investigation into the crash continues.