Firemen find cash in burnt steel cabinet drawer

JOHOR BARU: Firemen going through the debris at the intensive care unit at Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) found cash inside a drawer.

The money – totalling RM2,760 – was wrapped inside a plastic packet in the drawer.

Johor Baru fire station chief Ibrahim Omar said one of his men found the money Tuesday afternoon.

“It is a routine procedure whenever there is a fire, the department will go into the area to see whether the fire has been put out.

“While going through the ward, one of the firemen decided to inspect a burnt steel table and discovered the money,” he said when met at the hospital here yesterday.

“We informed the HSA management and returned the money.” .

He added that the money belonged to HSA management staff, Dr Tan Cheng Cheng.

Ibrahim said he was very proud of his personnel who carried out their duties with integrity.

He said that when they arrived at the scene on Tuesday they were alerted about the seven patients stuck in the ICU located on the second floor in the south wing.

“We immediately conducted a search and rescue to locate them as time is of the essence during a fire,” he said.

He added that when they arrived at the ICU, there was thick smoke everywhere, cutting off visibility for the firemen although they had torches.

Ibrahim said his team faced falling debris when trying to rescue the patients from the burning ward.

“They are ICU patients who are already in a critical health condition and it was quite hard to move them from their bed with big medical equipment around,” he added.

Although they were able to stop the fire from spreading to other parts of the hospital, Ibrahim said the team were sad that six people lost their lives.

“We felt really sad that we could not save their lives,” he said.