Adib still in EMRS van during temple riots, inquest told
INQUEST | Firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim was still in the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) vehicle he was assigned to when chaos erupted at the Seafield Sri Mahamariamman temple grounds last November.
Ahmad Shahril Othman, the third witness in the inquest to determine Adib's cause of death, said he was the vehicle's driver at the time of the incident on Nov 27 last year.
"Arwah (Adib) was (sitting) next to me...
INQUEST | Firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim was still in the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) vehicle he was assigned to when chaos erupted at the Seafield Sri Mahamariamman temple grounds last November.
Ahmad Shahril Othman, the third witness in the inquest to determine Adib's cause of death, said he was behind the wheel of the van at the time of the incident.
"Arwah (Adib) was (sitting) next to me. He was still communicating with me.
"We saw another officer exiting the fire truck to extinguish a fire... We said, 'Hazim got out so quickly'," he told the Coroner's Court in Shah Alam.
Hazim was identified as one of the firefighters deployed from the Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue Department, who arrived on site at 1.12am to extinguish a burning car across from the temple.
"I saw that before he (Hazim) managed to take out the hose reel, he was attacked.
"After that, I did not see him anymore. I do not know where he went," said Shahril, adding that the crowd had come from the front and both sides of the fire truck.
Read more: Fire truck driver testifies he was 'fearful' of mob attack at temple riot
The inquest earlier heard how a crowd of about 50 people had surged towards the fire truck.
Shahril noted that a few individuals had also moved to attack the EMRS van positioned just two metres behind the fire truck.
"In that chaos, the fire truck suddenly reversed and knocked my (EMRS van) front.
"At the same time, there was a group wearing helmets who wanted to attack the door on my (driver's) side.
"They knocked on the door with their helmets, asking me to open the door," said Shahril, who had yet to complete his testimony at the end of today's proceedings.
Fire truck driver Md Eliza Mohd Noor, the inquest's second witness, continued his testimony after the lunch break and confirmed that Hazim had exited the fire truck and attempted to take out the hose reel to put out the burning car.
Both vehicles eventually left the scene and headed towards the USJ8 police station.
Upon arrival, Eliza said he was alerted to Shahril informing his supervising officer that Adib was no longer in the EMRS van.
"We then tried to call Adib several times, but nobody picked up.
"After about 15 to 20 minutes, we received a call (on Adib's phone) and the person told us that Adib is being taken to SJMC (Ramsay Sime Darby Subang Jaya Medical Centre)," said Eliza, adding that their team was immediately instructed to head to the hospital.
The inquest continues into its second day tomorrow with a site visit to the temple grounds, led by Coroner Rofiah Mohamad and the legal team.
Strangely inquest held to determine Adib's cause of death BUT the larger picture of racial riot seem to have been conveniently left out just as Taan Medan incident is!
The door of EMRS van was seen and left outside the temple area on the mid morning of the riot! How the hell could the door had ripped off from van? The EMRS driver is hiding information as being next to Adib, he could not remember what happened to Adib in the next few minutes! Some how they continue tehir story 20 mins later...something really amiss here and there is gap in evidence! These fire fighters seem to have been coached by their superiors as their head honcho DG of Fire Brigade had already delivered his verdict of who killed Adib and how he was killed!
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