Rani Sabande, 19, was enjoying a bike ride with her cousin Shashank Sonawane in Worli when her flowing dupatta got caught in the wheel of the motorcycle and pulled her down by the neck.
Apart from body injuries caused by the freak accident on March 29, the mishap also damaged Rani’s windpipe. Doctors say she will not be able to speak for another month.
The Dharavi resident’s carelessness regarding her dupatta is a lesson for other women who pay scant attention to such details while riding on two-wheelers, doctors said.
“My bike stopped all of a sudden and I lost control and fell. Rani was in severe pain and bleeding profusely. I took her to KEM hospital with the help of a passerby,” said Sonawane. “Her face was bloated up and she was feeling breathless when she was brought to the hospital. She had chest edema too and so we inserted a tracheostomy tube to prevent further air leakage,” said Dr Hetal Marfatia-Patel, associate professor, ENT department at KEM hospital.
A CT scan of the neck showed that Rani had a fracture near the thyroid cartilage area. Doctors at KEM then sutured the air passage leak. “We put a nasogastric tube to ensure that the food she has does not leak into the air passage. The tube will remain till her fracture heals. It will take at least four weeks,” said Dr Neelam Sathe, associate professor, ENT department, KEM hospital.
Doctors said they will be able to tell if the accident had an impact on her voice box only after the windpipe fracture heals. “She cannot speak now because of the tube. She is not allowing us to check her voice box either. Once the wound heals, we will know if her voice box has been damaged and decide on the treatment accordingly,” said Dr Sathe.
Rani has now been referred to the orthopaedic department as she also suffered a shoulder fracture.
“However, since the windpipe fracture was life-threatening, we dealt with it first. The orthopaedic department will now fix the fracture on her left shoulder,” Dr Sathe said. Doctors said Rani is lucky as the dupatta could have strangled her to death. Thankfully, she got immediate medical attention, doctors said.
Experts say it is common to see women being careless about dupattas and sarees especially while travelling on a bike. “If a dupatta or saree gets entangled in the wheel of a moving vehicle, it can cause cervical spine injury because of the sudden jerk. Apart from this, the person can fall down and suffer other injuries too,” said Dr Pradeep Bhosle, head of orthopaedic department at KEM hospital.
