Magid and hero pals save homeless man who was hit by tram
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Magid, Hassun El Zafar and Mohammed Bux had just broken their fasts for Ramadan and were heading to an ice cream shop on West Street when they heard a ‘massive thud’, ‘screeches from the tram breaks’ and the tram driver ‘bang the horn for what seemed like minutes’.
Hassun, a theatre and film director, said: “We knew something was wrong, trams don’t just stop on West Street for no reason.”
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Hide AdMagid had to break up a fight between three people to get to the scene and nearly got punched in the process.
He said: “Our natural instincts kicked in and we ran to help. We could tell how serious it was, something just came over me and I had to do something.”
There was a ‘pool of blood’ which had ‘gushed’ out of the head of the man, a 39-year-old, who was face down in the street.
Magid said people were repeatedly screaming ‘he’s dead’ but were stood in shock, so he jumped into action.
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Hide AdMohammed, a dental student at Sheffield University who was helping Magid and Hassun, added: “It was paralysing, and even though I’m medically trained for emergency situations I guess it’s different in the moment.”
They used Magid’s hoodie and Hassun’s jumper to stem the blood flow and put him in the recovery position while another witness called an ambulance.
While he was helping him, Magid said someone had stolen a £10 note from the man’s pocket and ran off down the street despite shouting at them to stop.
They said his face had gone blue but by the time the ambulance arrived to take him to Northern General Hospital they had managed to bring his breathing back, although he was still unconscious.
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Hide AdHassun said: “Anybody could have done what we did. We knew if we didn’t apply pressure the bleeding would’ve been much worse.”
Magid said as the ambulance drove off they were still in a state of shock and went to a restaurant across the road to wash off all the blood that was covering their knees, arms, hands and chests. He added that he had a sleepless night worrying about the state the man was in.
They also said there was a group of other people who had stopped to try and help.
Hassun added: “It’s a testament to the city that so many people gathered to help the man, we were just trying to help. I really hope he’s OK.”
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Hide AdThe incident happened at around 10.20pm on Wednesday and West Street was cordoned off overnight.
The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the collision is ongoing.
Witnesses should call South Yorkshire Police on 101 and quote the incident 939 of May 22.