Eastbound Interstate 78 is closed Thursday morning, July 14, 2016, after an accident involving a tractor-trailer happened west of exit 24. (photo by Rich Maxwell | for NJ Advance Media)
Craig Turpin | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
By Spencer Kent | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
July 15, 2016 at 11:31 PM
MIDDLESEX — Fatama Mohmad, the wife of the 52-year-old truck driver killed in a fiery crash on Interstate 78 on Thursday morning, wanted to see her husband's body, but due to the extent of the burns and injuries, the medical examiner said he was left unrecognizable.
Essam Fawaz, 52, of Middlesex borough, was killed in a fiery crash while driving a truck on I-78 on Thursday, July 14, 2016.Photo Courtesy of Fatama Mohmad "(The medical examiner) said we wouldn't be able to get the graphic image out of our head," said Mohmad's 13-year-old daughter Gannat Moustafa, who was standing next to her mother at their home in Middlesex Borough.
Essam Fawaz, 52, a driver for Beltway Transportation Logistics, was killed while driving a tractor-trailer east on I-78 when it veered off the left side of the expressway and hit a bridge abutment. State police had said a preliminary investigation showed a possible blowout of one of Fawaz's tires, which may have contributed to the crash.
The investigation remains ongoing.
It was mid-afternoon on Friday and Mohmad and Moustafa had just arrived back at their home at an apartment complex off Warrenville Road. Mohmad, dressed in a black abaya, was quiet and somber.
With Moustafa helping to translate, Mohmad, who is Egyptian, said she was doing OK, but that it had been a difficult time for her and her daughter.
Police found Mohmad at her job on Thursday and informed her that her husband had died in the crash.
Pictured left, Gannat Moustafa, 13, and her mother, Fatama Mohmad, of Middlesex borough, in the living room of their home on Warrenville Road, on Friday, July 15, 2016. Mohmad's husband was killed in a crash on I-78 on Thursday.Spencer Kent | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com "She fainted and it took her 30 minutes to wake up," Moustafa said. "Someone from work drove her here."
Mohmad said police told her that Fawaz died instantly from the impact. He had been partially ejected and burned from a gasoline leak caused by the crash.
With most of her family in Egypt, only she and her daughter remain. The two are concerned about paying bills, as Moustafa said her mother doesn't make enough money at her job at the moment.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help raise money for the family.