The New Straits Times just reported that a mother of six children had the scare of a lifetime on Monday this week when she drove off from a petrol station along the East Coast Expressway without her daughter. Using technology, she got her child back ‘safe and sound’ and this is the benefit of technology and the community of people around us. ‘Twitter’ came to her rescue when she used it to alert road users of her plight and her daughter was returned to her safely.
The woman, in the 2pm incident, had stopped to perform her prayers at the Shell petrol station’s surau of the Temerloh Rest and Recreational (R&R) area and continued her journey.
She was about 15km away from the R&R when she realised her 12-year-old daughter was not in her multi-purpose vehicle.
Panicked, she immediately uploaded a post on her Twitter handle, @Sutungmenjerit, at 2.47pm asking for help.
“Anyone near Temerloh, please help Che Jah. My daughter was left behind at the Shell R&R Temerloh. Mama is now at 143.6km east bound.” she wrote.
She explained that when she left to pray, some of her six children were sleeping in the vehicle, some followed her while others waited outside the vehicle.
She said when her eldest child got into the vehicle, she assumed that all her children were already inside and continued on with the ‘balik kampung’ journey.
She said that upon reaching the town of Maran, she realised that her daughter was not in the vehicle.
After sending the tweet, she said a petrol station worker contacted her to inform that her daughter was safe at the petrol station.
At 3.34pm, she uploaded a picture of her daughter with a female petrol station worker, identified as Suria, on a motorcycle, adding that her daughter has finally been reunited with the rest of the family.
She thanked Twitter users for sharing the post and offering to pick up and send her daughter to her.
The incident, which had gone viral since Monday, garnered over 10,000 retweets with many providing support and words of comfort.
Answer: This happens when parents/drivers are tired and pre-occupied with their phones and more. Best to rest up as much as possible (I know it is difficult to rest when you have 6 kids, but try and get as much as possible) and drive with a clear mind and when you stop for what ever the reason do a name count of all the passengers before you drive away.
This and many more incidents are plaguing Malaysians who are not getting enough rest at home.
