It’s a miracle my husband made it out
Wife’s relief at driver’s escape as PM praises his bravery
THE wife of the taxi driver who was inside his car when a terrorist bomb exploded said it was an ‘utter miracle’ he had survived yesterday.
David Perry’s vehicle was coming to a stop when passenger Emad Al Swealmeen’s homemade explosive went off outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
The bomb was triggered just before 11am on Sunday and left Mr Perry ‘semi-conscious’. But he managed to escape before the car burst into flames with the bomber still inside.
And just hours later the 45-year-old was discharged from hospital.
His wife Rachel, 39, with whom he has two daughters, thanked emergency services and friends for their concern yesterday and said her husband was ‘extremely sore and just trying to process what happened’.
She added: ‘The explosion happened while he was in the car and how he managed to escape is an utter miracle. He certainly has some guardian angels looking over him.’
Last night a GoFundMe page set up to help Mr Perry during his recovery had raised more than £50,000 in donations.
Boris Johnson said: ‘It does look as though the taxi driver in question did behave with incredible presence of mind and bravery.’
Mr Perry, from Kirkdale, Liverpool, had been driving the passenger to the hospital. In a message shared on social media, one friend appeared to describe the incident, saying: ‘At this point Dave said he was thinking “He’s moody this fella.”
‘He didn’t think for one minute he was doing that. As he pulls up outside the women’s [hospital] the fella starts vibrating loads. So Dave turns round and thinks, “What the f***” and he starts flashing so Dave goes to jump out the taxi and it blows up.’
The driver was taken to Aintree University Hospital, in Fazakerley, in the city, where nurses checked his vital signs and stitched up his ear lobe which had been torn, family said.
Mr Perry, who works for Liverpool’s Delta Taxis, asked to be discharged from hospital early and went straight to his mother’s house, according to his uncle Michael Sultan. On Sunday evening Mr Sultan and his wife Stella went to visit their nephew, who was surrounded by family including his wife, two young daughters, mother and brothers.
His uncle, from Wavertree, said: ‘It was utter elation. We were all over the moon that he was standing in front of us, albeit with some injuries. We gave him a hug and said, “Thank God you survived it.”’ Mr Sultan said his nephew was ‘overwhelmed’ to be alive and added: ‘He was still in adrenaline mode. He was shaking and still realising how lucky he had been. He survived by a split second.’
The uncle said a ‘hero’ from the hospital had guided Mr Perry away from the vehicle moments before it ignited. He added: ‘Luckily his instinct told him to get out. He was semi-conscious after the blast.
‘His face was bruised, his hair was burnt and his ear drums were perforated. That’s when a passer-by from the hospital came over and moved him away from the cab. Otherwise he would have gone up in flames. He was very lucky.’
Mr Perry’s auntie said that he had not talked much about his passenger. The uncle described Mr Perry as a ‘100 per cent genuine family guy’ who ‘works hard and just goes about his daily life’.
His auntie added: ‘People are saying he is a hero. He has always been my hero.’
A neighbour of Mr Perry’s mother said the taxi driver was in ‘good spirits’ when she saw him on Sunday evening. The woman, who asked not to be named, said: ‘People are saying he saved lives. I really think so too.’
‘He was still in adrenaline mode’