It was a clear case of misunderstanding that resulted in BHP employees refusing to give Teo Chai Yong a fire extinguisher and that could have prevented the death of a Sarawakian college student last Thursday, said a BHP spokesperson who declined to be named.

“As the BHP staff could not see the accident, then a misunderstanding occurred with Teo claiming the staff refused to hand him a fire extinguisher,” he told Komunitikini .

NONE The spokesperson was responding to public outcry over the death of Florina Joseph, 27, who died after her car burst in flames.

Teo was the first to arrive on the scene of the accident - said to have occurred near the Cheras velodrome - had driven to the BHP and pleaded for a fire extinguisher to put out the fire that he had seen starting under Joseph’s vehicle.  

The BHP spokesperson said the BHP staffs’ subsequent refusal could have been due to Teo’s agitated behaviour that might have caused BHP staff to be too afraid and suspicious to hand him the extinguisher.

In such circumstances, the BHP official said that their actions derived out of caution as the said 3am accident did not happen anywhere near the station but was far from their location.

Compounding the situation was the lateness of the hour, he added.

Before this, he said further, BHP staff had complained of trauma from frequent exposure to the threat of rape, burglary and murder.

On a related note, BHP expressed its condolences to the victim’s family on the loss of their loved one.

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