Would you jump into the river at night if you see someone drowning?
I would not. Cos I cannot swim that well. I could not even tread water very well. And if I am to just foolishly jump in, I would probably also end up as the next victim as well.
I loved swimming. In swimming pools. Where my feet can touch the floor of the pools. I dun even dare to swim near the deep end. There was once I attempted to swim around the 1.8m area and my legs cramped! I had to jump and hobbled in the pool till I reached the side ledge and pulled myself up. And it gave me nightmares for weeks. Till now, one of my worst nightmares is that of drowning.
Swimming in pools is totally different from swimming in rivers or the sea. You dun know the actual depth. Real places are simply not the same as controlled conditions like in a pool.
Frankly, I doubt many people would jump in if they see someone drowning. It is not that we do not want to help but our physical limitations prevented us.
Someone who is not trained in survival rescue swimming would be pulled down by the drowning victim. Yes, it's that risky.
Of course, there are other things one can do to save a drowning victim. Throw in some thing floatable that the victim can grab hold off, or something long like a rope or a belt or watever.
Maybe the authorities can install some forms of life buoys around the area, so that anyone fallen into the river can be hauled out easily.
There have been people online, shaking their fingers at the "audience" there that day, saying "Shame, shame".
Were you there that day? If you were there, would you have also jumped in to help?
Talk is easy. Talk is cheap. I also know how to talk and criticize!
So yeah, those boys are heroes! Brave and courageous. And I hope that next time, if I ever fall into a river or sea, someone like them are around to rescue me.
----------------------------
The New Paper
07 July 2008
TEEN HEROES
Two boys save one-legged man after he falls into Singapore River
THEIR FRIEND FEELS HIMSELF SLIPPING OVER EDGE
By Hedy Khoo
THE man with only one leg was struggling to survive in the dark, deep waters of the SingaporeRiver. As his life was ebbing away about 40 people stood gawking, some with camera phones ghoulishly capturing the man's fight to live, despite pleas for someone to help.
Mr Seow Swee Lin, 66, had accidentally fallen in the river at the Merlion Park last weekend. The man lived, thanks to a group of teenagers who risked their lives to savehim.
Around 10 pm last Saturday, childhood friends ITE student Muhammad Syarifuddin and secondary school student Syahrul Ili San, were chatting at the Starbucks kiosk under the Esplanade Bridge. Syarifuddin, a Starbucks part-time employee, was not working but was there to discuss some work matters.
He recalled: 'It was quite dark, but I saw an old man squatting precariously on the stone ledge about 20m from us. 'Then he suddenly bent over and fell into the water.' A passer-by ran to the kiosk asking for a life buoy to help the man.
The Starbucks shift manager, MissRohalia Dolmat, 24, immediately called the police. Syarifuddin frantically looked around for a life buoy but could not find one. Syarifuddin said the passer-by then took a large piece of canvas covering one of the sofas nearby to throw to the old man hoping that he could reach it and they could pull him to safety.
'But by then we saw that the man was face-down in the water and not moving,' he recalled. He noticed that the man had left a prosthetic right leg by the stone ledge. 'I tried to keep calm but I was very worried when I realised that he was handicapped without one leg, and not moving,' he said.
Said Miss Dolmat: 'I was shaking and crying, and I kept asking, 'Can anyone swim, please help.' Both boys decided they had to do something but they were worried they could not lift the old man. Syarifuddin is 1.67m and weighs 65kg, while Syahrul is 1.72m and 70kg.
They jumped 5m down into the water which was at high tide. Recalled Syahrul: 'It was dark and when I hit the water, that was when I felt a sense of fear because I realised the water was deep and I couldn't see. 'But the thought that we must save the uncle wiped out the fear from my mind.'
The two boys managed to reach the old man and turn him over. Syahrul held up the man's head, while Syarifuddin supported the man'storso. Said Syarifuddin: 'The only thought that filled my mind then was we must save him. I saw he was foaming at his mouth. But I was relieved to feel his heartbeat.'
STRUGGLED
They struggled to keep themselves and the old man afloat. Recalled Syarifuddin: 'Things appear different when you stand at the bank and when you are really in the water. We didn't realise the water was so deep, and we had to keep treading water.
'We knew it was important in such situations to remain calm and think.' They tried to swim to a pillar under the Esplanade Bridge, but decided that would not work. They then decided to swim back to the bank to grab the canvas the passer-by had thrown in.
Back on land, another friend of the boys, Mohamed Danial Nansril, 17, a polytechnic student, was holding the canvas. Recalled Danial: 'There were at first two other men helping to hold the canvas, and when I went forward to hold it as well, they let go and went off, leaving me alone to support the three in the water.'
Danial who is 1.7m and 65kg, said he had a difficult time holding the canvas on his own. He recalled: 'At one point, I thought I wasn't going to make it. 'The weight of my two friends and the old man started to drag me over the ledge as well. 'I felt my feet slipping and my body was sliding over the edge.
'Luckily, a girl grabbed my legs and prevented me from falling in. 'I just held on because I knew my friends needed the canvas to keep afloat.' Miss Dolmat continued to plead with the passers-by for help.
She recalled: 'I said we needed men to hold the canvas, but nobody came forward. 'They just stood and watched.' In the water, the teenagers clung on for dear life while trying their best to keep the old man afloat and his head out of water.
Recalled Syahrul: 'Without our friend holding the canvas, we would not have made it. 'It was crucial to helping us stay afloat or all three of us could have drowned.'
Fortunately, help came soon after when the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers arrived. The SCDF confirmed that there was a water rescue at the Fullerton last Saturday involving a 66-year-old man.
UNCONSCIOUS
The SCDF spokesman said that when the man was pulled out from the water, he was foaming at the mouth and unconscious. He was taken to the Singapore General Hospital by ambulance. SCDF officers lowered a ladder to allow the two teens to climb out. Their hands and limbs had been scratched by barnacles. And their ordeal had lasted 45minutes.
---------------------------
Onlookers may be frozen by shock or fear
SOMEONE captured part of the incident and uploaded it on YouTube.
Syarifuddin said he was disappointed by this. 'I do not understand how people can stand by and watch a man die without helping,' he said. 'I am very disgusted. The three of us could have drowned, and when we needed help, why couldn't they have helped to hold the canvas instead of recording us on video?'
He added: 'I understand that not everyone can swim and it is dangerous to jump into the water because I was also worried for my own safety, but they could have helped in other ways.' Syahrul said that onlookers could have looked for a life buoy, for example.
Syarifuddin asked: 'Why are Singaporeans so apathetic?' Syarifuddin's supervisor at work, Miss Rohalia Dolmat, said: 'I was desperately begging for help, but the crowd was more curious about the drama than in helping.'
Their friend Danial is also upset that nobody helped him hold the canvas. He said: 'I saw grown men who were bigger and taller than me, but they didn't even come to help me even though I was falling over the edge.'
When asked if Singaporeans are apathetic, Dr Lionel Lim, 52, a psychiatrist in private practice, said no. 'People do not help for various reasons. It is not necessarily unkindness, and it is not that Singaporeans have grown more heartless,' he said.
'From a psychological point of view, when confronted with a scenario like this, each individual can have a different reaction.' He said there are mainly three categories of responses to a crisis: Fright, flight or fight.
'Some people are so overcome by shock and frozen by fear, they are unable to react. 'Others may run away. Then there will be those who stay to face the situation and render help,' he said.
'It is those who have altruistic traits and leadership qualities who are the heroes, and not everyone can be a hero.' He pointed out that Singaporeans are not heartless 'when you see the amount of donations that they made in response to the crises in Myanmar, Sichuan and the Asian tsunami'.
The new chairman of the Singapore Kindness Movement, Mr Koh Poh Tiong, 61, also agreed that Singaporeans are generally warm-hearted and kind, from the response and donations to the recent crises in neighbouring countries.
In this case, he said, others did not help because it could be due to a lack of courage to jump in the water. 'It was dark, and it is the open sea. People may have wanted to help but may not be able to swim in those conditions,' he said.
Mr Koh said: 'Let's not be too harsh on those who did not help and look on the positive side. 'These two boys were very brave to jump in. I think they are heroes and their courage is commendable. 'They deserve recognition and I would like to meet them, honour them, and we can learn from them.'
I would not. Cos I cannot swim that well. I could not even tread water very well. And if I am to just foolishly jump in, I would probably also end up as the next victim as well.
I loved swimming. In swimming pools. Where my feet can touch the floor of the pools. I dun even dare to swim near the deep end. There was once I attempted to swim around the 1.8m area and my legs cramped! I had to jump and hobbled in the pool till I reached the side ledge and pulled myself up. And it gave me nightmares for weeks. Till now, one of my worst nightmares is that of drowning.
Swimming in pools is totally different from swimming in rivers or the sea. You dun know the actual depth. Real places are simply not the same as controlled conditions like in a pool.
Frankly, I doubt many people would jump in if they see someone drowning. It is not that we do not want to help but our physical limitations prevented us.
Someone who is not trained in survival rescue swimming would be pulled down by the drowning victim. Yes, it's that risky.
Of course, there are other things one can do to save a drowning victim. Throw in some thing floatable that the victim can grab hold off, or something long like a rope or a belt or watever.
Maybe the authorities can install some forms of life buoys around the area, so that anyone fallen into the river can be hauled out easily.
There have been people online, shaking their fingers at the "audience" there that day, saying "Shame, shame".
Were you there that day? If you were there, would you have also jumped in to help?
Talk is easy. Talk is cheap. I also know how to talk and criticize!
So yeah, those boys are heroes! Brave and courageous. And I hope that next time, if I ever fall into a river or sea, someone like them are around to rescue me.
----------------------------
The New Paper
07 July 2008
TEEN HEROES
Two boys save one-legged man after he falls into Singapore River
THEIR FRIEND FEELS HIMSELF SLIPPING OVER EDGE
By Hedy Khoo
THE man with only one leg was struggling to survive in the dark, deep waters of the SingaporeRiver. As his life was ebbing away about 40 people stood gawking, some with camera phones ghoulishly capturing the man's fight to live, despite pleas for someone to help.
Mr Seow Swee Lin, 66, had accidentally fallen in the river at the Merlion Park last weekend. The man lived, thanks to a group of teenagers who risked their lives to savehim.
Around 10 pm last Saturday, childhood friends ITE student Muhammad Syarifuddin and secondary school student Syahrul Ili San, were chatting at the Starbucks kiosk under the Esplanade Bridge. Syarifuddin, a Starbucks part-time employee, was not working but was there to discuss some work matters.
He recalled: 'It was quite dark, but I saw an old man squatting precariously on the stone ledge about 20m from us. 'Then he suddenly bent over and fell into the water.' A passer-by ran to the kiosk asking for a life buoy to help the man.
The Starbucks shift manager, MissRohalia Dolmat, 24, immediately called the police. Syarifuddin frantically looked around for a life buoy but could not find one. Syarifuddin said the passer-by then took a large piece of canvas covering one of the sofas nearby to throw to the old man hoping that he could reach it and they could pull him to safety.
'But by then we saw that the man was face-down in the water and not moving,' he recalled. He noticed that the man had left a prosthetic right leg by the stone ledge. 'I tried to keep calm but I was very worried when I realised that he was handicapped without one leg, and not moving,' he said.
Said Miss Dolmat: 'I was shaking and crying, and I kept asking, 'Can anyone swim, please help.' Both boys decided they had to do something but they were worried they could not lift the old man. Syarifuddin is 1.67m and weighs 65kg, while Syahrul is 1.72m and 70kg.
They jumped 5m down into the water which was at high tide. Recalled Syahrul: 'It was dark and when I hit the water, that was when I felt a sense of fear because I realised the water was deep and I couldn't see. 'But the thought that we must save the uncle wiped out the fear from my mind.'
The two boys managed to reach the old man and turn him over. Syahrul held up the man's head, while Syarifuddin supported the man'storso. Said Syarifuddin: 'The only thought that filled my mind then was we must save him. I saw he was foaming at his mouth. But I was relieved to feel his heartbeat.'
STRUGGLED
They struggled to keep themselves and the old man afloat. Recalled Syarifuddin: 'Things appear different when you stand at the bank and when you are really in the water. We didn't realise the water was so deep, and we had to keep treading water.
'We knew it was important in such situations to remain calm and think.' They tried to swim to a pillar under the Esplanade Bridge, but decided that would not work. They then decided to swim back to the bank to grab the canvas the passer-by had thrown in.
Back on land, another friend of the boys, Mohamed Danial Nansril, 17, a polytechnic student, was holding the canvas. Recalled Danial: 'There were at first two other men helping to hold the canvas, and when I went forward to hold it as well, they let go and went off, leaving me alone to support the three in the water.'
Danial who is 1.7m and 65kg, said he had a difficult time holding the canvas on his own. He recalled: 'At one point, I thought I wasn't going to make it. 'The weight of my two friends and the old man started to drag me over the ledge as well. 'I felt my feet slipping and my body was sliding over the edge.
'Luckily, a girl grabbed my legs and prevented me from falling in. 'I just held on because I knew my friends needed the canvas to keep afloat.' Miss Dolmat continued to plead with the passers-by for help.
She recalled: 'I said we needed men to hold the canvas, but nobody came forward. 'They just stood and watched.' In the water, the teenagers clung on for dear life while trying their best to keep the old man afloat and his head out of water.
Recalled Syahrul: 'Without our friend holding the canvas, we would not have made it. 'It was crucial to helping us stay afloat or all three of us could have drowned.'
Fortunately, help came soon after when the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers arrived. The SCDF confirmed that there was a water rescue at the Fullerton last Saturday involving a 66-year-old man.
UNCONSCIOUS
The SCDF spokesman said that when the man was pulled out from the water, he was foaming at the mouth and unconscious. He was taken to the Singapore General Hospital by ambulance. SCDF officers lowered a ladder to allow the two teens to climb out. Their hands and limbs had been scratched by barnacles. And their ordeal had lasted 45minutes.
---------------------------
Onlookers may be frozen by shock or fear
SOMEONE captured part of the incident and uploaded it on YouTube.
Syarifuddin said he was disappointed by this. 'I do not understand how people can stand by and watch a man die without helping,' he said. 'I am very disgusted. The three of us could have drowned, and when we needed help, why couldn't they have helped to hold the canvas instead of recording us on video?'
He added: 'I understand that not everyone can swim and it is dangerous to jump into the water because I was also worried for my own safety, but they could have helped in other ways.' Syahrul said that onlookers could have looked for a life buoy, for example.
Syarifuddin asked: 'Why are Singaporeans so apathetic?' Syarifuddin's supervisor at work, Miss Rohalia Dolmat, said: 'I was desperately begging for help, but the crowd was more curious about the drama than in helping.'
Their friend Danial is also upset that nobody helped him hold the canvas. He said: 'I saw grown men who were bigger and taller than me, but they didn't even come to help me even though I was falling over the edge.'
When asked if Singaporeans are apathetic, Dr Lionel Lim, 52, a psychiatrist in private practice, said no. 'People do not help for various reasons. It is not necessarily unkindness, and it is not that Singaporeans have grown more heartless,' he said.
'From a psychological point of view, when confronted with a scenario like this, each individual can have a different reaction.' He said there are mainly three categories of responses to a crisis: Fright, flight or fight.
'Some people are so overcome by shock and frozen by fear, they are unable to react. 'Others may run away. Then there will be those who stay to face the situation and render help,' he said.
'It is those who have altruistic traits and leadership qualities who are the heroes, and not everyone can be a hero.' He pointed out that Singaporeans are not heartless 'when you see the amount of donations that they made in response to the crises in Myanmar, Sichuan and the Asian tsunami'.
The new chairman of the Singapore Kindness Movement, Mr Koh Poh Tiong, 61, also agreed that Singaporeans are generally warm-hearted and kind, from the response and donations to the recent crises in neighbouring countries.
In this case, he said, others did not help because it could be due to a lack of courage to jump in the water. 'It was dark, and it is the open sea. People may have wanted to help but may not be able to swim in those conditions,' he said.
Mr Koh said: 'Let's not be too harsh on those who did not help and look on the positive side. 'These two boys were very brave to jump in. I think they are heroes and their courage is commendable. 'They deserve recognition and I would like to meet them, honour them, and we can learn from them.'
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