SHAH ALAM: Fireman Mohd Adib Mohd Kassim’s injuries during the night of the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple fracas were caused by blunt force trauma, an inquest into his death was told today.
Adib had suffered four fractures on the right side of his ribs and a collapsed lung when he was brought to the Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC) on the night of Nov 27, Dr Nantha Kumeran, 39, said.
“I examined him and noticed that there were no marks on his face and neck, his limbs were not broken, but there were bruises on his upper right chest wall and shoulders,” said the 12th witness of the inquest.
“When I felt the bruise, I could hear a cracking sound. It felt like broken ribs. I suspected initially that it was Pneumothorax, which is a collapsed lung.”
Nantha said he called for a chest X-ray and an intubation for Adib, as he had difficulty breathing at that time.
“We had to insert a chest tube because his oxygen level was low,” he said. “Adib’s blood pressure was also low at that time. We had set up an IV drip to get his blood pressure level’s up.”
Nantha then presented the X-ray image of Adib’s ribcage and lungs, that were taken on the night of the riot.
He explained that the second, third, fourth and fifth ribs were fractured and his right lung had an abrasion.
“The injuries to the lung looked like it was from blunt force trauma, as his lungs appeared white in the X-ray. Normally it should appear as pitch black,” he said in reply to DPP Zhafran Rahim’s question on the probable cause of the injury.
Nantha also told the inquest that there was an air leakage beneath Adib’s skin due to the punctured lung which caused his chest walls, abdomen, scrotum and face to swell.
“The leak was on from the lung, there was air escaping the lung,“ he added.
He was part of a team of nine firemen responding to a fire at the temple in USJ 25 where rioters were protesting its relocation.
Adib was hospitalised for three weeks. Despite regaining consciousness and showing signs of recovery, he died on Dec 17 due to lung failure.
