Little girl in escalator tragedy laid to rest
The Star Online, 2 June 2014
Bleak reminder: Shoppers walking past the escalator on the third floor where Nurul Emielda fell to her death at the Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur.
PETALING JAYA: The girl who died after plunging three storeys to her death in a shopping mall has been laid to rest in Puncak Alam.
Nurul Emielda Nadia Sallehuddin, seven, was going up to the third floor of the Gardens Mall when she slipped through a small opening at the top corner of the escalator at about 2pm on Saturday.
Her parents told police that they had taken their eyes off the child when they heard a loud thud on the ground.
They were shocked to find their daughter sprawled in a pool of blood and her head crushed on the ground floor.
The girl’s father was reluctant to speak to reporters when met at the University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) mortuary and expressed his disagreement with how some media had reported the incident.
“You already have the answers. Why do you still need a statement from me? Why hurt my feelings?” he asked.
The girl’s bereaved father requested the media to respect the family’s privacy as he walked to the surau to pray for his daughter.
A news portal reported that Emielda was allegedly playing with her brother near the escalator when she fell.
However, Brickfields OCPD Asst Comm Muhammad Azlee Abdullah disputed the portal’s description of the incident, saying that Emielda was actually an only child.
When asked if the parents would be investigated for negligence, ACP Muhammad Azlee said investigations were ongoing and a decision would be made only after all the evidence had been collected.
It is learnt that Emielda had just started primary school this year.
