Brother regrets cutting short video call
GEORGE TOWN: “I feel so guilty because I cut short a video call from my brother on Wednesday. That was the last call from him,” said Mohammad Ripon Hossain, 32, whose younger brother, Mithu Hossain, 30, was killed in the Bukit Kukus landslide on Friday.
His body was found yesterday. Ripon, from Bangladesh, said Mithu called him while he was at work at a factory in Valdor, Sungai Bakap, two days prior to the incident.
He said Mithu seldom called him, but did so on Wednesday.
“I cut him short because it was noisy. I told him that I would return the call.
“But when I finished work, I forgot about it.
“His friend called me on Friday and informed me that a landslide had hit the construction site Mithu was working at,” he said at Penang Hospital here yesterday.
Ripon said he was sad to lose his brother and had delivered the bad news to their parents in Bangladesh.
“I have a sister back home. I have decided to return to Joshur in our home country after I claim (Mithu’s) body.
“I don’t think I will return to Malaysia ever again,” he said, adding that he had been working here for five years.
Mithu’s cousin, Ahmed Raju, 29, said he had not seen him for a year, but was shocked to hear the news.
He said Mithu called him earlier this year to tell him that he would be working at a construction site here, but provided no further details.
“Mithu had been (in Malaysia) for a year, together with his friend, Mustak Hossain, 25, who also died in the incident.
“The three of us are from the same village and we had known each other since we were small. Mithu’s father is my father’s brother,” Ahmed Raju said, adding that he had been working in Ipoh for the past five years.
He said that Mithu was happy when he called to say that he had secured a job in Malaysia.