TRIBUTES have been paid to a grandfather-of-12 who died a week after returning from Pakistan, where he was involved in a motorbike accident.

Haqdad Khan, 65, of Every Street, Nelson, had come off his bike with two passengers on the back, including his 13-year-old nephew who was left paralysed, after colliding with a rock on a notorious road in the city of Jhelum.

Mr Khan, a retired taxi driver, was taken to a local hospital where he was told he had broken five ribs but was then discharged, his family said.

After falling ill again the following week he was taken to a military hospital in Islamabad but was again discharged.

On arrival at Manchester Airport on November 18, he fell ill again and his family took him to Royal Blackburn Hospital.

He spent a few days on the ward before his condition deteriorated and he was moved to intensive care before he died on November 26.

His daughter Frena Akhtar, 32, said: “After the accident we thought that he would be OK. He was told in the hospital in Islamabad that he had deep vein thrombosis but that it was nothing to worry about and they discharged him after he has some antibiotics.

“I wanted him to come back to England where he could be with his grandchildren and be looked after.

“When we landed in Manchester he started to appear a bit disorientated so we took him straight to hospital in Blackburn.

“They said that he had an infection called acinetobacter which is picked up from dirty water or mud. We think he got it from falling onto contaminated land when he came off his bike.

“He ended up with pneumonia, septicaemia and kidney failure.

“My family has been very upset that it wasn’t picked up when he was in hospital in Pakistan.

“Doctors here said that if he had been in seen in England sooner they might have been able to save his life.

“We all miss him very much.”

He leaves his wife Mafooz Akhtar, sons Mohammed Khan and Faheed Khan and daughter Frena Akhtar as well as 12 grandchildren.

More than 200 people attended his funeral at Ghosia Mosque, Clayton Street, Nelson, before his body was flown to Pakistan for burial.

An inquest into his death was opened and adjourned for furt-her histology and toxicology reports, but initial reports suggest he died from multi-organ failure after suffering kidney failure and sepsis.

It is due to re-open on January 17.