Tree a nightmare for family
Nightmares of a massive tree falling on them wake 5-year-old Dalin Mathew and his mother Selma George every night.
On January 22, a 15 metre-high willow tree crashed down on them as they watched jet boats roar through the Shotover River in Queenstown.
George – pictured with her daughter Daphne – and her husband Jerin Mathew were with their two children on the first day of their first family holiday since moving to Wellington from India in 2011.
They had taken shelter from the sun at a picnic table under the tree as they watched the boats.
Mathew heard the tree breaking and saw it fall on his wife and children, trapping them underneath.
George doesn’t remember more than hearing her husband’s screaming voice, crying that Dalin was ‘‘gone’’.
Dalin was lying unresponsive under a large branch, bleeding from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth.
Unconsciously, George had hugged Daphne, holding her underneath her and protecting her from serious injury.
George suffered multiple trauma, including a dislocated hip and broken femur.
The family members were taken by helicopters to different hospitals and it was not until George came out of surgery at 3am that she was able to speak to Jerin and learn the condition of her children.
‘‘I was able to talk to him [Dalin] but he wasn’t talking. He could only say ‘mmm’ but at least I knew he was alive.
‘‘Everyone said it was a miracle that we are all alive.’’
Six months later, Dalin has mostly recovered from his physical injuries and returned to school but every night, he woke up having nightmares, George said.
Her own physical recovery will take much longer. She is able to walk only short distances, with the aid of a walking frame.
A report said the immediate cause of the incident was strong, gusty and swirling winds, an ageing tree with a ‘‘decaying root base below ground level’’, and a sandy soil base.