7 year old girl survives after falling 4 storeys onto a concrete floor
SINGAPORE — She fell four storeys on to a concrete floor, but Siti Nur Aini, 7, miraculously was still able to tell the paramedics she was in pain.
She had slipped through a gap in the metal railing by the flat’s lift—landing, suffering multiple fractures.
Her family said the gap was reported in December to the Bukit Merah Town Council. But the latter last night said it could find no record of the call.
The Blangah Rise Primary School student’s grandfather, retiree Johari Mohd Siamu, said: “We thought it was quite dangerous, the whole thing (railing) is rusty and shaky.”
At about 4.30pm yesterday, the 69—year—old had been cooking mee rebus for his granddaughter at their flat at Telok Blangah Crescent, when his sons brought her in after she had fallen.
“Her eyes were open but she didn’t talk. Then she started crying and saying she was in pain,” said Mr Johari. His sons called for an ambulance while he comforted her.
At the time of the mishap, a picnic mat had been hung to air over the gap in the railing. Siti had been playing nearby. “I think she was crawling behind it, and then suddenly we saw the mat move and then we realised she had fallen,” said Mr Muhammad Azman, 24, a family friend.
Mr Muhammad and Siti’s uncle Muhammad Syukri had been sitting nearby at the landing, playing the guitar. “She knows not to play there,” said Mr Muhammad Syukri, 20, currently unemployed. “We always warn her not to run around too close.”
It was he who reportedly called the town council three months ago about the broken railing. He claimed he was told someone would be sent to check on it. “I didn’t hear from them, I don’t know if they came or not.”
Neighbour Wee Deng Seng, 55, said residents often gathered at the landing, where someone had left a sofa to sit on. “Sometimes when we wait for the lift, we will lean on the railing, but then we realised it was shaky.”
Last night, Member of Parliament for the ward Sam Tan and a town council representative were at the National University Hospital (NUH) to visit Siti, who was undergoing surgery for bleeding in her abdomen.
Said Mr Tan: “We want to make sure the family doesn’t have to worry about the medical expenses and that Siti gets the best treatment possible.”
The medical bills, he said, could be billed directly to the town council if the family has difficulty paying, and the town council would contact its insurers to find out more about covering with its public liability insurance.
In the meantime, a town council officer will be stationed at the hospital to assist the family. The railing was also cordoned off after the incident.
Town council property manager Vincent Lim, who went to NUH with Mr Tan, said that typically if a report about damaged property came in during office hours, officers would be sent down immediately. “If it’s after office hours, then we will record it in the system and alert someone to go down the next working day,” he said. — TODAY/ar