CAL crash-landing victim flies to US to save leg

-after local doctors recommend amputation

Noel Elliot, who was injured in last Saturday’s Caribbean Airlines Flight 523 crash-landing, has been flown to the United States to save his leg, which local doctors recommended be amputated.

Elliot, 46, who had been seated towards the back of the aircraft, fractured his leg in the accident and was subsequently admitted as a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). However, on Thursday he was discharged and flown back to the United States for treatment. He is now a patient at a New York City hospital.

Noel Elliot

According to the man’s wife, Sharon Elliot, doctors at the GPH had informed her and other relatives that there was a problem with the blood vessels in his leg, causing disruption in the flow of blood to his toes.

As a result, they had given them up to Thursday to decide on amputation. However, after conferring with relatives, Sharon said that she decided to have her husband flown back to the US for medical treatment. She said upon his arrival there, the doctors “checked him out,” diagnosed the problem and are currently working to rectify it. “There is nothing wrong with his leg that it needs to be amputated,” the woman said.

At the couple’s Lot 38 Shell Road, Kitty home, Elliot’s wife expressed high praises to the Caribbean Airlines personnel for their quick action in promptly securing a flight for her husband to be flown back to the US.

Elliot suffered the most severe injury of passengers involved in the incident and was admitted to the High Dependency Unit of the GPH.

He had returned home for a two-week vacation to celebrate his first wedding anniversary. Elliot, who works at a law firm, has been in the US for six years.

His wife explained that he has no relatives to take care of him now, and as a result she is working on getting over there to assist him during this time.