Senior citizen, maid survive 10m pit plunge

PETALING JAYA: An 86-year-old man and his foreign maid escaped with injuries after a car they were in plunged into a 10m deep construction hole at Section 17, off Jalan Universiti, here today.
It is learnt that the 3m wide hole, which is a pipe-jacking pit used for construction, was barricaded when the elderly man who was driving the car with his 30-year-old maid, accidentally veered past the line at about 2pm. The pit is to facilitate the laying of underground sewer pipes.
Police said the car plunged into the hole and left the victims trapped in the vehicle.
Passers-by who rushed to their aid were helpless due to the depth of the pit.
Firemen from the Damansara fire and rescue department arrived at the scene within minutes, managed to free the victims from the car wreck and winched them out of the pit by 3.30pm.
Later, with the help of a building crane from a nearby construction site, the car was hoisted out.
Petaling Jaya police chief ACP Mohd Zani Che Din said the man and his maid were sent to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre as they had suffered head and body injuries.
Police are investigating the accident to determine if there was negligence in securing the area by the builders of the sewerage chamber.
When contacted, Indah Water Consortium (IWK) communications senior manager Shahrul Nizam Sulaiman said the pipe-jacking pit was under the purview of construction company, Mangkubumi Sdn Bhd, appointed by IWK.
He said the project was part of the sewerage system upgrade under the Greater Kuala Lumpur project.
On whether action would be taken against Mangkubumi, Shahrul said: "We will discuss this issue with the sewerage services pepartment first before reaching any conclusion."
A Mangkubumi spokesman said he was unable to comment on the matter as he had yet to visit the location of the incident.