City offers damages to manhole victim’s kin

The Star

JOHOR BARU: The Johor Baru City Council will pay RM80,000 in compensation to the family of a woman who died after falling into an uncovered manhole during a Chingay parade early this year.

Johor Baru mayor Datuk Naim Nasir said: “The council accepts responsibility for the accident and will visit the family soon to pay the compensation.”

Koh Siang Lee, 63, fell into a drain through an uncovered manhole near the Bukit Saujana flats here. She sustained head injuries and was rushed to hospital where she died nine days later.
Her family later issued a letter to the council demanding RM100,000 in compensation.
Naim said that the tragedy had occurred because thieves had stolen the metal gratings covering the manhole.

He said that he hoped such tragedies would not be repeated once all metal gratings are replaced with concrete covers to deter thieves. “It may cost a little more initially, but it will be cheaper in the long run as it will be worthless to scrap metal thieves,” he said.

Naim said the concrete replacements would be done in phases, starting with covering areas where grills and gratings had been stolen. He anticipated that would take about a month, after which the council would move to replacing other areas with concrete.

“The council spent RM900,000 last year alone replacing things stolen by scrap metal thieves,” he said, adding that between January and May this year, the council spent an extra RM470,000.
He urged those with complaints or feedback to contact the council's toll free hotline at 1300-88-0146 or SMS free at 019 778 8212.

Johor DAP vice-chairman Norman Fernandez, who is the legal representative of the victim’s family, thanked Naim for the offer and said that he would have to revert back to his client to see whether they were willing to accept the offer.