Hero policeman saves woman from drowning near the Second Penang Bridge

GEORGETOWN: An auxiliary policeman used his expertise as a trained scuba driver to rescue a 28-year-old woman from drowning after she apparently fell from the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Bridge (Second Penang Bridge) here.
Zaidi Salleh, aged 52, who used to be part of a search and rescue unit of the Royal Malaysian Air Force, repelled down six metres to retrieve the victim around 1pm before a rescue vessel from the bridge's support unit rushed over to pluck the duo from the open seas of the Penang Channel.
Parts of the daring rescue were captured on a smartphone, which went viral after it was uploaded online shortly after 2pm.
Due to an in-house policy at the bridge, the media was asked to bide their time to interview the hero Zaidi, but the bridge's public relations and communications manager Azizi Azizan provided a brief summary of what had happened.
A patrol team on a routine drive-by noticed a vehicle left abandoned at KM9.9 of the bridge lane heading towards Batu Maung at around 1pm today.
They inspected the vehicle and found it empty, before proceeding to search the open seas below, when they noticed the victim struggling to stay afloat while yelling for help.
Zaidi apparently did a "Macgyver" (a fictional television character famous for improvising rescue attempts in emergency situations) act.
He fetched a nearby plastic tong, retrieved a rope used to tow vehicles and tied it to his waist.
He then used another tolling rope line to repel down six metres towards the surface of the sea, where he managed to untangle himself and grab the woman, who was by then tiring herself out.
He held on tightly to the victim as the rescue boat from the Batu Maung fishing jetty approached them about 20 minutes later.
"His actions are nothing short of heroic and the bridge operator are grateful that we have a staffer who is willing to risk his live to save others. His actions are commendable," said Azizi when contacted.
Zaidi began working as an auxiliary policeman four years ago after retiring from the military.
Since its opening in 2014, there were two suicide-related deaths on the scenic bridge which connects Bayan Lepas to Batu Kawan on the mainland.