Claim that Adib was hit by truck false, says fireman in viral video

KUALA LUMPUR: The man standing behind a fire engine truck at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple site is not injured fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, it was pointed out.

Fire and Rescue Department director-general Datuk Mohamad Hamdan Wahid said the man was actually Adib’s colleague, Mohd Hazim Mohd Rahimi.

He said earlier, 31-year-old Hazim was inside the fire truck in front of the emergency vehicle Adib was in.

Hamdan was commenting on allegations by the temple committee that Adib was hit by a reversing fire truck.

The temple committee claimed yesterday that the scene was captured on a viral video.

Task force secretary V.K. Regu said there were three videos circulating online showing that the fire engine had reversed suddenly without realising a fireman was behind the truck.

“The department will lodge a police report on the allegation,” Hamdan told a press conference at Institut Jantung Negara here yesterday.

Also present was Hazim, who confirmed that he was the man in the video and that he had alighted from the fire truck to access the hose reel.

He said upon seeing the mob, he jumped into an emergency vehicle for safety.

“It was a very chaotic and confusing moment,” he said, adding that rioters rushed towards them with the intent to attack.

Hamdan, who visited Adib at IJN earlier, said the department would now operate at the site of the temple in USJ 25 and the vicinity under the public order standard operating procedure managed by the police.

He added that another team reported for the new shift yesterday and were briefed on the changes.