Firefighters play peekaboo while rescuing toddler trapped in car

PETALING JAYA: Firefighters played peekaboo with a crying toddler to calm him down while trying to rescue him from a locked car.

The child had been trapped in the car for about 25 minutes when the team of eight firefighters arrived at the apartment complex carpark in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam, at 12.20pm yesterday.

Operations Commander Noor Fazida Tina Mohamad Noor said the mother and passers-by had been trying to open the car doors for 15 minutes before making the emergency call.

Apparently, the mother was heading out to send her seven-yearold son to school and brought along her year-old toddler for the ride.

“She sat the toddler in the front passenger seat and closed the door behind her.

“She was about to enter the driv- er’s side when the car doors locked automatically.”

Noor Fazida said the mother could not do anything because her keys and wallet were on the driver’s seat.

A few neighbours tried helping out the frantic mother, but to no avail.

“The scared toddler was crying when we reached the scene. We played peekaboo with him through the window to calm him down.

“He eventually stopped crying. We used some tools to pry open the door a little, and then slid in a wire through the gap.

“We hooked the wire onto the keys and fished them out. The process took about 20 minutes,” Noor Fazida said.

She said the child was still shaken when he was taken out of the car.

“I took his pulse after we had rescued him.

“His heart was beating fast because he had been crying for a long time.

“But the little boy was okay otherwise.

“I advised his mother to take him to a clinic if he developed a fever,” she added.

Noor Fazida said the firefighters had been involved in 10 or 11 similar cases over the past two years.