ハイジャックそしてクラッシュ！Ronさん、九死に一生（9）- PTSDとの戦いも。

では、ロンさんの話の続きです。



帰国するも更に6か月入院。
I returned to Japan a month later. After returning, I was in the Isuzu hospital for six months and was not allowed to work. Finally, I went home for Christmas, 1996. I met my friends in the neighborhood and finally slept in my own bed.

そしてPTSD。
At that time, the posttraumatic stress really started, and I spend whole nights just shacking. It was so bad that even Taeko couldn’t sleep which is something. Taeko can sleep standing up. Still today I don’t sleep that deep, but am very comfortable taking plane flights.

I met part of Rani Nanakani’s family in Bangalore, India on my way from Singapore to Turkey a couple years later, in 1998. I was on a business trip and decided to route it through India. I met the same brother I met in Reunion, Rani’s other brother, her sister that lives in Canada and Rani’s Mother. It was wonderful, but I couldn’t meet Rani, her husband or their children.

ハイジャックそしてクラッシュ！Ronさん、九死に一生（8）

グローバルリーダー協会の齋藤です。

昨日、アン・ハサウェイ主演の映画『パッセンジャーズ』を見て、このロンさんの事故を思い出してしまいました。

さて、病院生活の続きです。

前回の記事でロンさんが、自分はminor injuryと言っていますが、実は、完全復帰まで1年近くかかっています。この記事は、まだほんの始まりの部分の話にすぎません。





In the hospital, I become very close to Rani’s oldest brother, husband (Ram) and son (Sanjay). I also met Pancho Huddle’s wife, but we could never meet, as we were on different floors and could not leave our beds. I tried to visit him once in India, but could only meet his staff. There were five Americans on the plane. Two had died. So, there was Pancho, his wife and me who survived. Also, there were two Italians on the plane with minor injuries. They both had to swim from a very deep position in the aircraft, and the plane’s fuel got in one of the person’s eyes (a lady). She was blind for a while.



I was in a hospital on the island of Reunion for one month. I had to have medication for both pain and sleeping disorders. I just couldn’t get to sleep without medication.

ハイジャックそしてクラッシュ！Ronさん、九死に一生（7）

The French Medical Teamの続きです。



Video footage of the crash

事故の模様はビデオに取られていました、Y-Tubeに出ていますし、TVでも何度か取り上げられ、日本テレビも放送しました。

The crash was videotaped by people on the beach, so that made it a marketable event. It made me famous for a time. The first program was NBC's “Dateline” just after the crash (12-1-96) as I mentioned. That did not have the crash footage. The second program, on Fox in Feb. 1997 did. Also, it was on ABC in November, 1997, the Japan’s TBS station in December 1998, and also it was on German TV in 1998. In each of those TV interviews I learned a little more about the crash. I learned there were 11 Israeli commandos on the plane and 10 had died. I learned there was a sea diving program going on just about where the plane crashed. I learned who was in every seat and their fate. Very recently, 2015 the crash was reenacted on Japanese TV (NTV) and I was approached my many people who saw it.

Lizzy and Katie were in all the London newspapers and tabloids. They must have enjoyed the stardom working for MTV. Later on they wrote a book on the experience and published it.

At that time, it was one of the most deadly plane hijackings in history. I was one of the lucky ones with only minor injuries.

ハイジャックそしてクラッシュ！Ronさん、九死に一生（6）- このような時、FBIも捜索するんですね

The French Medical Teamの続きです。

The next day, I woke up very refreshed. I had X-rays of my leg and a scan done on it. There was a worry about a second operation needed, but that was determined not needed. I must keep my leg in traction for 3-4 weeks, and it will take about 1-2 months after that before I can stand, walk and put any weight on the leg, as I did before the accident. The good thing that I learned then was that I would completely recover.

Raniさんの兄がお礼に。
One day, as I lay in the bed, a complete stranger came to my room and said, "You are an ANGEL FROM HEAVEN, sent to our family, as you saved my sister’s life". I immediately went into tears, as I have never had such a complement in my life before. It was Rani’s older brother from Bangalore, India.

報道機関も。
Then, in came the press. For the first two days I was in the hospital, the press and government officials visited me. The governor of Reunion from France interviewed me for the local press. That visit, I think, was more for him than for me.

No one knew where I was for about two days after the plane crash. Isuzu Motors staff was looking for me. Itohchu, the larger Japanese trading company, was looking for me. And, even the FBI was looking for me for a time. Once I got to Reunion, both my family in the United States and Japan knew where I was and the news spread around.

奥様ともようやく再開
Other people visited me, like the Isuzu dealer on Mauritius, a nearby island. I met him once at a conference in Tokyo. A staff member from the Itochu office (Alain) from Madagascar also visited me. Finally, two Isuzu employees (Matsui-san and Ishii-san) brought my wife Taeko from Japan to visit me. Also, Akatani-san from Itohchu’s Nairobi Office visited me.

The American Embassy staff, particularly Bonnie Bissonette from the Mauritius Embassy had given a great deal of information to me and moral support, which was greatly appreciated as I just laid there helplessly in the bed. Years later, she visited me in Japan and I should her, her sister and daughter around Tokyo one day.

長い間話をしなかった父親からも電話。
On top of that, I received telephone calls from many family members and friends (Sarie Kaplan, Sal Osagueda, Bonnie Kaplan, my Mother, Norman Grant, Roger Deanne), and even the FBI. Also, a lot of local people visited me just to wish me well. Even my Father called me when I was in the hospital. That is something he had never done before. In all my years in Japan, my father never called, but he called me at my bedside while in Reunion.

故郷のサクラメントのラジオ局やNBC DATELAINEからもインタビュー。
Also, two radio stations from my hometown, Sacramento, CA, interviewed me by telephone. I was also, interviewed on camera for an “NBC DATELINE”, which was aired on December 1st, 1996.

ハイジャックそしてクラッシュ！Ronさん、九死に一生（5）- 治療をする国の選択

エチオピア近くの海に落ちた飛行機。

幸い命に別状はないものの大けがをおったRonさんたち、どこに近代的な病院があるのか、腕のいい医者はいるのか。

どの国に行くべきか移送先の選択を迫られます。

Transport Operations:

A French medical team from Reunion Island was the first on the scene. They said they had a converted military plane, which could carry sick to one of the best hospitals in the Indian Ocean, comparable with hospitals in South Africa. The problem was that it would take four and a half hours to travel in that old plane. To South Africa, if it could be arranged, would be only three hours.

The Japanese JICA (JAPAN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ASSOCIATION), wanted to take me to Nairobi, as did the Ethiopian and the American Embassy. I did not want to go to Nairobi, as I had food poisoning there once and would rather go to a more modern hospital. As the French medical team seemed the most efficient, best equipped and ready to go, I selected to go to Reunion with them. Well, I guess I made the right choice, as this hospital was excellent, and the staff, although French speaking only, were wonderful to me.

The French Medical Team:

The team of French medics was excellent. Even when there were no problems, they made rounds about every 2-3 minutes. Also, their medical equipment was much more modern than that which was used in the Comoros. I knew by their professionalism and efficiency that I had made the right decision to go to Reunion.

On a sad note, I learned there were five Americans on the plane and two had died. One of two Japanese died.

Once our converted medical plane took off, the English girls started talking again. I now knew her name, Katie, but did not know her friend’s name, so I asked and gave them my name, “Ron”. The other English lady’s name was Lizzy. Lizzy and I met in the first hospital, and she had a bad leg injury.

When I gave my name, Rani heard it. She was in one of the upper cotes, out of my view. I could not see her but she heard my name and shouted out, “Ron, are you here too?” So, once again, we were rejoined.

The plane ride was not comfortable, as it was a military cargo plane and not for injured passengers. At the end of the flight, my leg hurt more than ever. But, the medical team headed by Dr. Bernard Gavwere was excellent!

At Reunion, the American Ambassador of Mauritius, a nearby island nation, met me at the airport. He also said I would get the best of care in that hospital, and if there was anything he could do, he would. That was about 7-8 PM in the evening, and he said he would visit me in the hospital the next day.

I was sent to a hospital called Felix Guyon in St. Denis, on the island of Reunion. Reunion is like France’s Hawaii. I never saw the island though. I was in the hospital the whole time.

When I first enter the hospital, I know I would be in good care, as all the equipment was like any industrialized country. Rani, Lizzy, Katie, the American Frank (Poncho) Huddle and his wife, were all in the same hospital.

I must admit, the four and a half hours on a noisy and shaky plane made my leg hurt all the more, and I had not been given anything to eat for 48 hours.

The first doctor saw my original X-rays, and he said the leg had to be re-set within five minutes, as it will cause great problems later on. I did everything in my power to convince him the leg was set, and he soon confirmed that. So, he simply cut off the cast on my ankle, drilled a hole in the bone below my knee on my left leg, so the hip would be put in traction so it would heal properly.

Then, I ate a full meal and went to sleep, a very good, deep sleep, as the ordeal was slowly coming to an end.