IT may be fate, but I am saddened by the news that two-year-old Mohd Izzat Amir Abdul Jalil died.

My condolences go to his family … Al-Fatihah.

Mohd Izzat, who I assume must have been a healthy boy and had so much more to live for in this world, succumbed to serious injuries suffered when he fell into an open manhole.

This incident was alleged to have happened during a treasure hunt at a field in a resort in Alor Gajah, Malacca, where his family had rented two bungalows.

Mohd Izzat is believed to have fallen on his head, hit ting the concrete floor which resulted in a head fracture and blood clot.

The family claimed there were no warning signs at the manhole and that the grass around it had not been cut.

I wonder what the resort management is doing to en sure of their visitors’ safety.

Safety must come first, as we have read about many tragic accidents where more of ten than not, some could have been avoided if strict safety measures were taken.

There are several cases of people falling into open man holes before, but most of them went unreported as the injur ies were not that serious.

Perhaps some were too shy to tell people about their painful experience.

I had a painful and scary experience of falling into a manhole while walking one night along the streets of Ku ala Lumpur about a decade ago.

There were some construc tion works going on along the street.

The light was not bright enough and there were no sign boards either.

I simply did not notice that there was a hole ahead of me.

The manhole was about 4m deep as when I fell into it, I realised it was double my height because I could not get out.

I was lucky I did not fall on my head or suffered any serious injuries.
I only suffered bruises on one half of my body and some bleeding.

Luckily, there were some kind souls who witnessed the incident and quickly helped pull me out of the hole.

I am very careful nowadays so as not to suffer the same fate again.

But we can never be safe enough, as negligence knows no bounds.

That is, unless strict safety measures are taken to stop people from being victim to them.

Hopefully, there will no more cases like Mohd Izzat who seemed to be a victim of substandard safety measures derived from that infamous tidak apa attitude.

Lives are precious.

Mustapha Kamaruddin
Sports editor

Source: Malay Mail – January 7, 2008