‘We begged them not to amputate’

PETALING JAYA: Friends and colleagues of the Pakistani man who lost his leg in the horrific KL Eco City pedestrian bridge collapse on Wednesday had begged the medical team not to amputate his left leg.

The victim, Rais Aman Majidd, 28, is currently in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) here.

Attempts by theSun to speak to him proved futile.

It is learnt that Rais was a forklift driver and was in his forklift at the time the bridge collapsed, which resulted in him being trapped inside the forklift. The medical team at the scene had to amputate his left leg to get him out of the rubble.

“We had to beg the medical team not to amputate his leg, we were pleading but they had to do it to save his life,” said an unnamed colleague at the hospital yesterday.

Some of Rais’ colleagues are livid with the Pakistan High Commission in Malaysia for not reaching out to the victim. A friend of the victim, Ali Malik, 28, who is also a construction worker, expressed his frustration about the whole situation.

“We are disappointed that no one from the High Commission has even made an effort to contact one of their own who is in critical condition,” he said, adding he expected the High Commission to act immediately and come to the aid of its own citizen.

“Even Rais’ boss came to visit him and see to his needs,” he said.

In an immediate response, First Secretary of the Pakistan High Commission in Malaysia, Mian Atif Sharif, told theSun said that they were not aware of Rais’ injuries.

“It could be because no one reached out to us,” he said.

Meanwhile, checks by theSun at the UMMC mortuary revealed that the one victim who died in the incident was a 21-year-old Vietnamese man named Tran Xuan Vang.