Passers-by break into car to save trapped toddler
By By Thasha Jayamanogaran | The Malay Mail Online – 3 hours agoRELATED CONTENT
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PETALING JAYA, June 2 — A toddler left in a locked car for nearly 20 minutes in near-record heat that could have reached 50°C survived after passers-by broke into the vehicle and rescued her outside Wisma Converter in Section 9, Shah Alam, at 1.20pm yesterday.
For a few intense minutes, the 20-strong group tried every which way to open the doors of the tinted Perodua Myvi as they saw the baby growing increasingly restless and sweating profusely.
The temperature outside the car was 33°C then.
As one used an iron rod to try and open the front left window panel, another smashed the rear right window to open the door and lift the infant who was in the front passenger seat to safety.
Women in the group quickly took over, carrying the baby to a nearby office to cool off in the air-conditioned atmosphere.
All this while, the crowd which kept growing larger, tried to locate the driver of the car but to no avail.
It was only when the drama was over that the mother emerged from a nearby building and claimed the baby.
Police said interviews with witnesses showed the mother had left the baby in the locked car “for a while” while attending to errands.
Shah Alam police chief ACP Azisman Alias said police learnt about the incident after a video clip went viral on social media.
He said although no one reported the incident to police, his team went to the location to record statements as he had watched the video clip.
“The mother had told some of the rescuers she had been in a rush to run some errands and forgot to leave the engine running,” he said,
The 100-second video clip on Facebook was shot by Tuan Noor Azlim Tuan Ab Rahim, who saw the crowd gathering frantically around the car.
The video showed someone shouting that the windscreen should be broken as the safety of the infant was the priority.
A relieved citizen was heard later thanking God for saving the baby as “we might be reading about another incident in the newspaper if the baby had not been saved in time”.
Azisman said police would look for the baby’s mother.
They were investigating the incident as a case of child negligence.
Since 2013, at least six similar cases have occurred nationwide, receiving wide media coverage and prompting calls from various quarters for the careless parents to be charged with negligence.
Among them was the case of a five-year-old boy who was found dead in his mother’s multi-purpose vehicle after being left inside for six-and-a-half hours on June 19, 2013.
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