Penang woman crushed to death by container called mother with dying breath
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A container toppled off a lorry and crushed a car when the lorry made a sharp left turn.
PHOTO: FIRE AND SAFETY DEPARTMENT MALAYSIA
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BUKIT MERTAJAM - Crushed under a cargo container, Ms Lee Zi Rou summoned the last of her strength to call her mother.
“Mummy! It hurts so much!” the 21-year-old woman gasped into her mobile phone.
Her mother frantically asked her where she was but was met with silence.
“I sensed she had died,” said her mother, known only as Ms Lim, 42, in a video interview recorded by China Press at Ms Lee’s wake on Nov 14.
Ms Lee died after the car she was driving was crushed by a container
The container had toppled onto and crushed her car when the lorry it was on went out of control as it negotiated a sharp left turn.
Another car also hit by the container was not as badly damaged.
However, its driver Tan Chou Theng was seriously injured. The 25-year-old was rescued by passers-by and taken to the hospital.
Ms Lee’s mother said she had told her children to only text her for non-urgent matters.
“I told them that if they call, it means there is an emergency. So when she called, I felt fear,” she said tearfully.
Ms Lim said she immediately told her other daughter to drive her through the route Ms Lee usually takes to work.
She said calls to Ms Lee went unanswered.
A man who finally picked up the phone told her Ms Lee had been crushed in the accident, and told her the location.
She said when she arrived at the location, she frantically begged bystanders to help rescue her daughter.
“But it was impossible. The container was too heavy.
“She called at 9.24am and my daughter had died by 9.30am,” she said.
At the Magistrate’s Court in Penang on Nov 14, Magistrate Harith Mazlan issued a remand order on the 51-year-old lorry driver for four days until Nov 17.
Local police had earlier said that the driver was being investigated for causing death by reckless driving, which is punishable with up to 10 years’ jail, a fine of up to RM50,000 (S$15,000) and driving licence disqualification for between 10 and 20 years. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
