Melbourne road accident: Mysuru techie Nethra out of danger, recovering

The  total number of people dead in the Bourke Street road incident has risen to six now On February 1, Nethra has been moved out of the ICU

Mohan Kumar’s update on Facebook has helped family and friends keep track of his wife, Nethra Krishnmurthy’s recovery in Australia. The techie, who hails from Mysuru, was almost on the brink of death as she was one of the unfortunate ones to be involved in the Bourke Street road tragedy in Melbourne.

Nethra was among the lucky ones to have survived the dreadful accident. However, another Indian woman, Bhavita Patel, was not so lucky as her, as she succumbed to her injuries on February 1. Bhavita had been unresponsive and had been on the life support system since being admitted to the hospital following the tragedy. Her family finally had to pull her off the system. With her death the total number of people dead in the incident has risen to six now.

According to updates, Nethra has been showing signs of positive recovery at the Alfred Hospital. On January 29, she had her Ventilator and Nasogastric tube support removed. The next day, she had the lung tube removed and the sedation had been reduced.

Her husband further details how she was able to be awake and be aware of things going on around and has even resumed talking a bit as well as drinking fluids. On January 31, Nethra underwent surgery for scalp lacerations and today, February 1 she has been moved out of the ICU.

Now, she is being monitored and necessary procedures are being conducted for her recovery, which is expected to be long one considering the seriousness of her injuries. 

A resident of Bayswater’s Nethra, 31, has had several surgeries for injuries including a broken spine and ribs, foot fractures, a punctured lung, damage to her liver and kidneys, and deep lacerations to her head.

She  had just returned from maternity leave to her IT support job in the city when she was hit in the horrific incident. Nethra was going back to work from the day-care centre where she had gone to  breastfeed her son Hari, when the incident occurred.  Mohan, her husband, was with her at the time of the impact and had barely missed being hit.

So far, six people - four adults and two children, a three-month-old baby and 10-year-old - have died. Thalia Hakin, 10, Jess Mudie, 22, Matthew Si, 33, a three-month-old baby and a 25-year-old man died. Dimitrious Gargasoulas, the driver of the car, had surgery for a gunshot wound he sustained when police stopped him after his rampage.

Dimitrious “Jimmy” Gargasoulas, allegedly knifed younger brother Angelo, who is gay, in the early hours of January 20 before setting off on a 12-hour rampage through Melbourne.Gargasoulas was well known to police and had been bailed on an assault charge just five days before the day of the accident, when he was due to attend court. This incident has led Australia to rethink its bail laws.

What is heart warming in all of this tragedy is that this incident served to highlight the generosity of absolute strangers in this time of distress. A family friend of Nethra’s, Tanvir Chowdhury, led an  online fundraising campaign initiated by a family friend, has raised over Australian $147,271 (about Rs 75.38 lakh) for her treatment. Although the goal set was $100,000 this amount was raised out of 2550 donations.