Video Shows Hero Cop Saving A Woman After Her Attempted Suicide At Penang Bridge
The 52-year-old cop is a retired military officer.
By Katrina Khairul Azman — 19 Apr 2018, 01:44 PM
A two-and-a-half minute long video taken by a fisherman shows a man barely keeping his head above water after saving a woman who had jumped off the Second Penang Bridge yesterday, 18 April
The video features auxiliary policeman Zaidi Salleh as he attempted to save the woman who was struggling in the waters.
Malay Mail Online reported that Zaidi rushed to KM9.9 of the structure where the woman had jumped from earlier, after he received an alert from a colleague. He then saw that she was still clinging to a pillar in the water.
Since the tide was low and the waters were calm, Zaidi made a judgment call that he could rescue the girl before it was too late. He immediately sprung into action.
The 52-year-old told Malay Mail Online that, "I used a car-towing cable from a maintenance vehicle and used it to slowly scale down the pillar to reach her."
However, the tide then came in. The father of three held on to the woman for about 20 minutes until rescuers could finally save them.
"The undercurrent was very strong and it swept us to the middle of the sea so I held on to her to keep her from being swept away," said Zaidi.
Just when Zaidi felt too weak to stay afloat, a plastic fish container appeared.
"I let her hold on to the container and I reminded her that this was a sign from Allah that she must hang on to it to save herself because if she was to let go, I was too exhausted to save her at that point".
"I was getting weaker by the minute that I was on the verge of going under when they (the rescuers) came," he explained.
Once brought to shore, they received immediate attention from a fire and rescue paramedic team.
Police believe that the attempted suicide was due to family problems
The 28-year-old woman jumped off the bridge after parking her car on an island-bound stretch of the bridge.
A Penang Fire Department official confirmed that she is now in stable condition, reported Free Malaysia Today.
Though Zaidi said that this was not the first case of someone jumping off the bridge, this was the first time he had jumped in to save someone
"I did not expect anything. I am a trained diver and I did it for humanitarian reasons," Zaidi, who has been working as auxiliary policeman for four years since retiring from the military, was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia Today.
Meanwhile, the bridge's public relations and communications manager Azizi Azizan has commended Zaidi for his courageous actions.
"His (Zaidi's) actions are nothing short of heroic and the bridge operators are grateful that we have a staffer who is willing to risk his live to save others," Azizi told theSundaily.