‘HE WAS AMAZING’
Brampton truck driver killed in Hwy. 407 crash was a dad to five children,
Mahad Adan, the tanker truck driver killed in a fiery crash on Highway 407 Wednesday, was an “amazing father” who was dedicated to his wife and five children.
“He was a wonderful guy,” said his grieving wife, Jennifer, from their Brampton home. They had been married 19 years, and had just celebrated their anniversary a week earlier by going out to dinner, something they didn’t do that often, she said.
“We were planning our 20th, to do something big,” she said. “We were going to renew our vows.”
She said Mahad, 41, wanted to go to a beach somewhere and get married all over again.
“He was amazing. All he cared about was taking care of us,” she said.
She said she doesn’t know what happened Wednesday, but wants everyone to know what a wonderful person her husband was, and what a great father he was to their four daughters and one son, aged 8, 10, 13, 16 and 17.
“He had a perfect driving record,” she said. “No accidents. No safety issues. He took driving very seriously.
“I’m just as confused as everybody else,” she said.
Adan said her husband used to lecture “all the time” about road safety and was well aware of the grave responsibility he had.
“He used to say, ‘It’s not for everybody. You’re driving something that could potential- ly kill people,’ ” she said. “He always assured me he never took any risks,” she said. “He loved his job very much.”
But still, she was always trying to convince him to give it up.
“I knew it was dangerous,” she said, noting even the fumes were a concern.
He used to complain that other drivers would often cut him off, she said.
Adan had been driving for 15 years — 13 of them a tanker truck for 4Refuel, his wife said. He made diesel fuel deliveries for the company all around the GTA, and he was on his way back to the yard to quit for the day when the crash happened, she said.
The OPP are still investigating what happened when the westbound truck went out of control around 5 p.m., flipped over the barrier and burst into flames in the eastbound lanes. Adan and a 49-year-old Mississauga man driving an eastbound vehicle, who has not yet been publicly identified, died.
Adan said she has purposefully avoided looking at the news coverage of the crash, not wanting to see the horrific photographs and video.
She said she and her children are “doing well” and coping, with the help of strong support from friends and family.
“I’m dealing with it step by step,” she said. “We have a strong faith. We’re trying to hold onto that to help us get through it.”
Her family flew in from Newfoundland, and her parents from Alberta, while her husband’s mother and aunt are still expected to arrive from Egypt.
The Adans had just visited them in Egypt earlier this month.
Adan was the sole bread winner in the family, was well-liked at work, and his co-workers stopped by the family home Thursday to help support his family.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said when asked how she was going to get by without him.
“He always made me strong. I have to be. I have to take care of my kids,” she said.
Friends have set up a fundraising campaign to help.
More than $8,000 had already been donated in just a few hours.