KEPALA BATAS: Housewife Suriati Omar was struck by devastating news twice within a week.
On Wednesday, she received news that her 23-year-old son Muhammad Izzamir Nabihan Abdul Majid (pic) had died in a road accident in Indonesia, six days after a second heart attack left her husband Abd Majid Abd Gaffor, 65, in critical condition.
Izzamir, a final-year student in mineral resources engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), was killed in a bus crash during a study visit in Acheh.
He was among 25 members of a USM academic exploration team who were returning from a visit to a coal mine in Geumpang when the bus overturned.
Seven others were injured in the 7pm (local time) incident.
Suriati, 45, had no choice but to leave her husband, who is warded at the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur, under the care of relatives and return to her hometown here to make arrangements for her son’s burial.
She declined to speak to reporters when she arrived at her sister’s home in Taman Abdullah Fahim here yesterday afternoon.
Her sister, Fouziah, 59, said Abd Majid was still unaware of his son’s death.
“The doctors advised us not to tell him, fearing that he might not be able to take the news,” she said, adding that Abd Majid was first warded on Feb 26 after his first heart attack but suffered a more serious attack last Thursday, three days before Izzamir left for the trip on Sunday.
Fouziah described Izzamir, the second among five siblings, as responsible and who shared his scholarship money with the family.
She said Izzamir’s body was due to arrive in Penang at noon today and would be buried at the Masjid Abdullah Badawi here.
USM vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Omar Osman said Izzamir died at the Geumpang community health centre of serious injuries.
He said the USM team, consisting of 19 students, five lecturers and a technical staff member, left for Acheh on Sunday for an academic exploration trip. They were due to return today.
He told a press conference at USM yesterday that three lecturers would be sent to Acheh to help those who were injured.
Of the seven injured, a student and a lecturer were admitted to the local hospital.
Dr Omar extended his condolences to Izzamir’s family and said he was a rugby player and well-liked by fellow students.
