Husband still reeling from trauma as wife succumbs to school roof accident
NOR AZURA MD AMIN
SEGAMAT - "I ran to the neighbour's house after hearing her screamed, but found the roof of a school had already hit her."
That is what Arif Budiman, 37, said about his neighbour V Mahadevi, 55, who died behind their house from being hit by the roof of a school blown away by strong winds in Kampung Tahang Rimau on Monday night.
The construction worker explained that before the incident at about 7pm, there was heavy rain accompanied by lightning.
He said that as soon as he heard his neighbour's scream for help, he rushed by running and found the kitchen part of his neighbour's house crushed by the roof.
"I quickly helped pull the victim out after their house was hit by the school roof. At that time, the victim was lying down and pinned at the waist.
"It was raining heavily and it was very challenging. Neighbours came to help. Finally, we managed to pull the victim out of the school roof," he said.
Meanwhile, the victim's younger brother V Bala, 51, said that Mahadevi was at home with her husband P Saravanan, 57, when it happened.
"My brother-in-law told me that his wife screamed for help three times after being hit by the school roof in the kitchen of their house.
"Our whole family is still shocked by what happened to my sister. My brother-in-law is also still traumatised and, for now, he is staying at a relative's house here," he said.
In the meantime, Segamat district police chief Superintendent Ahmad Zamry Marinsah confirmed the incident.
"The wind blew away the roof of Seg Hwa Secondary School building and fell crashing into the victim's kitchen which was next to the school at 7.15pm on Monday.
"The victim, who was in the kitchen then, could not protect herself and was trapped under the roof.
"The victim was successfully removed from the roof by her husband and a neighbour immediately after the incident.
There were wounds on the victim's head due to this incident," he explained in a statement today.
