Woman awakes from coma after 27 years

Ms Munira Abdalla, then 32, was in the back of a car with her four-year-old son on the way to their home in Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), when the vehicle collided with a school bus.

She hugged her son to protect him, but suffered a serious brain injury from the impact, which left her in a coma. Doctors believed she would never open her eyes again.

But last year, 27 years after she fell into a coma, Ms Abdulla regained consciousness in a hospital in Germany.

Her son Omar Webair, 32, told The National, a UAE-based paper: "I never gave up on her because I always had a feeling that one day she will wake up." The 1991 accident had left him with a mere bruise.

Ms Abdulla was later transferred to a hospital in London. She was declared to be in a vegetative state, with next to no awareness of her surroundings but able to feel pain.

Over time, she has become more responsive and can hold some conversations. Ms Abdulla is now receiving treatment in Abu Dhabi, where she is undergoing physiotherapy and further rehabilitation.