HeRo Yio Chu Kang

Heroes: Students Syarifuddin and Syahrul were standing at the spot under the Esplanade Bridge where the incident had occurred.

TEEN HEROES - 07 JULY 2008 - THE NEW PAPER
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 save him.

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.'

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.

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.