KUALA LUMPUR – When Train 81 was delayed from leaving KLCC station, Sharifah Davina Syed Salehuddin already had a sinking feeling, a premonition, one could say, of bad things to come.
Much to her regret, she ignored her gut instincts, seeing that she was on her way home after a gruelling day at work as a barista at San Francisco Coffee, thinking nothing more than the fact that delays happen once in a while.
The 29-year-old shared her experience of yesterday’s LRT train incident, which saw Train 81 from Gombak heading towards Petaling Jaya carrying 213 passengers colliding with an empty Train 40 driven by a single hostler, on the way for repairs from Kg Baru station.
“I got on the train about 8.15pm. It departed at 8.25pm. I was wondering why the train took so long before departing. Usually, it doesn’t take that long. I felt something was wrong. I should have followed my gut and disembarked but instead I stayed.
“Suddenly, the train began to move. It went really fast and then it stopped suddenly and everyone fell and got hurt. Luckily, I was sitting on the chair but I hit my head on the glass panel next to me quite hard. I have a bump on my head.
“I fell on the floor badly and bruised my left leg,” Sharifah Davina told The Vibes.
After knocking her head against the glass panel, she lost consciousness for about 10 minutes and did not hear the collision.
When she came to, she said she awoke to darkness and chaos. The only light visible was from the mobile phones of other people who were confused and hurt. Some were trying to get their bearings and move to the front of the carriage.
Prior to the accident, she was on the phone with her boyfriend. After losing consciousness, her boyfriend had continued calling her repeatedly until she answered some 10 minutes later after regaining consciousness.
Sharifah Davina then told her boyfriend that she needed to call him later. At this juncture, she said she was in shock and reeling from the pain on her head and bruise on her left leg, as well as her arms and hands.
In panic, she found she could not breathe properly. She then found a seat and messaged her family in their WhatsApp group. As her father asked her what was going on, she said she had lost coherency and could not even begin to explain to them what had happened.
“When I came to, the people on the LRT came to help me but, even then, I couldn’t talk because I was in shock. I contacted my family’s group chat but couldn’t explain what happened. I video-called my dad. I was crying and couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t talk. My dad and my sister tried to calm me down.
“The woman in front of me was bleeding and crying, asking for help and asking for her phone. We helped her search for her phone and we were able to find it. I saw another man who was bleeding around his eyes.
“After that, we were told to leave from the front of the train. I saw another man; his head was bleeding. He knocked his head on the door really badly and bled on the floor. When I saw that, I couldn’t breathe and started shaking.
“It took me quite some time before I could leave the train because I was in shock.”
However, despite her condition, she refused to take an ambulance to Kuala Lumpur Hospital for a medical check-up.
She insisted on calling her father and having him pick her up before seeking any medical attention.
She added that, based on her past experience in an accident, Kuala Lumpur Hospital might not be able to give her immediate attention as they have many patients to attend to.
After her father picked her up from KLCC about 10pm, Sharifah Davina headed home for a quick shower as a precaution due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Dad brought me to Universiti Malaya Medical Centre’s (UMMC) Accident and Emergency Department. I didn’t want to take the ambulance to HKL. At UMMC, they did an X-ray on my left leg but not my head.
“They said that they had a lot of Covid-19 cases and didn’t want me to stay too long at the hospital. At that time, my left leg hurt more than my head. That’s why they checked my leg. So, they gave me a painkiller injection and the X-ray results came back about 1am. By then, my leg had a huge bruise.
“The doctor came back to check on me about 2am. We left the hospital at 2.47am. I couldn’t sleep. I was in so much pain.
“Right now, my whole body is in a lot of pain,” she said, adding that she is still in shock and is now suffering a migraine and shaky hands over yesterday’s incident.
The medical officer who attended to her also advised her to seek further medical assistance if she starts vomiting or if her bruise becomes worse.
At 4pm today, Sharifah Davina and her father lodged a police report at Pantai police station.
She is also unsure whether to take legal action against LRT operator Prasarana Malaysia Bhd. – The Vibes, May 25, 2021
