Thursday July 12, 2012

Good Samaritans who rushed to aid of snatch theft victim tell their stories

GEORGE TOWN: Airport cargo worker B. Saravana Kumar, 37, had just returned home after his night shift early on Tuesday morning and was getting ready to sleep when his mother-in-law told him to help a woman who had fallen down by the roadside.

He rushed down from his Rifle Range flat second-floor unit to find Tan Kim Chuan, a snatch theft victim, lying on the road.

“I rubbed some medicated oil on her. She was vomiting but conscious at the time.

“I cleaned her up, and together with two others, moved her to the side of the road,” said Saravana, adding that he called the ambulance at 6.10am.

Saravana: Rubbed oil on Tan.

A fellow flat resident, Khoo Ean Ooi, 57, who was jolted from his sleep by a neighbour's shouts, also rushed down from the seventh floor to help.

“She was a regular customer at my char hor fan (fried broad noodle) stall and was a very nice lady.

“I helped the police look for her identification card but only found a wad of money in her pocket, which was handed over to the police,” he said.

The police later handed over RM409, a watch and keys to Tan's relatives.

In an interview with the Chinese press, a Rifle Range resident who only wanted to be known as Beh, 77, who was captured on the CCTV footage walking away from the victim, said he had intended to help, but was too frail.

“Initially, I thought she was a suicide victim.

“I couldn't help her as I myself need a walking stick. I approached others nearby to call for an ambulance and to help her.

“I didn't just leave her,” he insisted.

Khoo: Victim was his customer.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government would present certificates of recognition today to those who helped Tan.

“I am very disappointed with those who just walked away.

“Remember, one day you too may need others to help you, so we must work together, be responsible and considerate,” he said.

Tan, 60, was walking alone by the road near Block J at 6am when her handbag was snatched by a motorcyclist, causing her to fall.

A CCTV recording showed that seven people walked past her without offering help as she lay sprawled on the road.

It was seven minutes before three people lifted her to the side of the road and called the ambulance.

She died at 3.45pm on the same day.

In October last year, a similar incident in China involving two-year old Wang Yue who was run over by two vans and ignored by 18 passers-by sparked outrage throughout the country.

Wang Yue was rescued by Chen Xianmei, an elderly trash collector, and sent to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries eight days later.

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