A man is fighting for his life in hospital after being swept into the sea in a tragic accident that cost the life of of his best friend.
Toqeer Ashraf Mohammad, from Stoke, has been in Liverpool's Aintree University hospital for five days after he was rescued from Crosby Beach.
The 21-year-old was with Hamza Mansoor and three other friends who were walking along the beach on a day trip from Stoke-on-Trent when they were swept into the water by a strong current on Tuesday night, Stoke on Trent Live reports.
Staffordshire University student Hamza, 22, from, Shelton, died that night and another of their friends was later discharged from hospital.
Now Toqeer’s brother, Daanyaal Mohammad, has revealed that the family are staging a virtual vigil in Liverpool.
The 18-year-old, from Stoke, said: “They were just walking on the beach - they wouldn't go in to have a swim. Their plans to go there had been cancelled about three or four times, they said ‘shall we go or shall we not’.
“Then they said 'it’s Eid tomorrow so let's go'. They were walking on the side of the beach. The water came to their knees and suddenly a wave came and the water rose. Within seconds it went from their knees up.
“Hamza said ‘stop walking in the water, let’s walk out now’. They started walking out and within seconds it went from their knee height to over their heads. It took all five of them in.
“I got a call at 7.55pm from Hamza’s cousin. I was speechless, I didn’t know what to do or say, I was lost.
“Our family is shocked and really stressed. He has been in intensive care since that day. The doctors are saying he is still critical, he needs dua’s (prayers). It has affected us all badly. We never expected this to happen.”
Toqeer is one of five siblings. His family are not allowed to see him in the hospital and must communicate with him on video call.
Daanyaal added: “We’ve known Hamza for a long time. He was the nicest guy you could meet, he was always there for you.
“Hamza was like a brother, we’ve lost our family. We are close to his family as well.
“We are not allowed to go and see Toqeer either, I’ve been in Liverpool since that day. They let us meet him on the day but after that they haven't let us go in. We can only video call him but that’s different to being next to him.
“They try to take the sedation off and do breaks. We ask them to let us stay there. He tries to take the tube off and his blood pressure and heart rate rises.
“I would like the hospital to at least let our mum meet him, she’s devastated. All I want is for someone to go in there and see him. He has a tube in his mouth so is not able to talk.
“Doctors have said they did blood tests and they have improved from the day he came in but he is still critically ill.”
