Heroic fireman rescues 10-year-old girl from jumping off flat

JOHOR BAHRU, Oct 7 -- Having had the experience of caring for six nieces and nephews came in handy for a firefighter in rescuing a teenage girl from jumping off a building in an incident in Larkin yesterday afternoon.

Larkin Fire and Rescue officer Ismarul Nizam Monday, 30, came off as a “hero” after a video of him and the victim went viral on social media since yesterday.

Although this was not the first time handling a case involving a victim trying to jump off a building, he did not deny the feeling of anxiety and panic when he learned that the victim was just a 10-year-old girl.

"This is the first case involving a child, there have been two or three cases that involved adults.

“When we received a distress call at 4.01 pm, I wasn’t sure whether it involved a child or an adult. But since the incident happened next to the station, from below, we could already identify the victim,” he told Bernama when contacted.

When he reached the 20th floor of the flat, Ismarul found two policemen trying to persuade the victim.

“I offered to try to persuade the young girl. Thankfully it worked. The approach I used is different for adults,” he said.

After 15 minutes of coaxing and the teenager finally gave up her suicide attempt.

It was believed the girl was upset after a quarrel with her mother over a telephone issue.

-- BERNAMA