The Rides Of Life

Attended to this case. Came out in The New Paper. hmm, so far, 3 cases i attended to came out in the papers. All freak accidents. haha. enjoy... =P



HE HAD THE RIDE OF HIS LIFE

Hotel lift shoots to the roof. Injured man rescued more than 3 hours later

YOU'VE got to hand it to Mr Terence Arthur Matthews.

He had a frightening ride in a lift when it suddenly shot up 22 storeys and crashed into the top of the shaft. He was injured and trapped for about three hours.

But his humour remained intact despite the ordeal.

According to rescuers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force, who reached Mr Matthews through a 50cm by 50cm hatch in the roof of the lift, he greeted them with a smile.

'The first thing he said when he saw us was 'Thank God you're here',' recalled Staff Sergeant Norazni Diron, 26, a Fast Response Paramedic.

Mr Matthews was out of breath and dizzy by then, but he could crack a joke. And he was still at it when The New Paper met him at the Singapore General Hospital yesterday.

'My head crashed onto the ceiling, then I fell back on the elevator floor. I must have fallen on my bum because it's all bruised now,' he said, laughing.


Mr Matthews, a 1.83m 103kg Canadian, was thrown around when the lift suddenly malfunctioned last Saturday.

The 56-year-old senior vice-president of sales and marketing at water treatment company Hyflux was at the Peninsula Excelsior Hotel on Coleman Street to meet a client.

Around 3pm, he stepped into one of three lifts on the ground floor of the hotel to make his way to the second-storey lobby.

Then the lift suddenly shot up with its inner doors still open. It's all a blur to the man now, but he recalled that the doors closed as the lift ascended.

'I tried pressing buttons on the different floors hoping the lift would stop, but the next thing I knew, there was a terrific crash as it hit the top,' Mr Matthews said.


He estimated that the whole journey lasted about 15 seconds. 'I obviously wasn't timing it,' he added.

It's a wonder that this man can see anything funny in what happened to him, because he's being tested for head and spine injuries. Doctors suspect he might have a compound fracture in his spine. He is not able to sit up, let alone walk.

He had been stuck for about an hour before the SCDF were called, and even then the caller only asked for an ambulance. During that time apparently no alarms went off.

After paramedics from the Central Fire Station nearby arrived and assessed the situation, they called in the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart).

'During the one hour, a voice came on through the lift's intercom thrice to ask 'Are you there?',' Mr Matthews said, rolling his eyes.

Finally, Staff Sgt Norazni and two other officers climbed on the top of another lift and moved into the one in which he was stuck.

About 15 officers in all were involved in the rescue.

About two hours later Mr Matthews, fastened to a stretcher and stabilised to prevent further injury to his back, was taken out through the opening in the lift ceiling.

'He was in a lot of pain, so we had to move really slowly,' said Captain G Gobiselven, Officer Commanding of the Central Fire station.

Mr Matthews was glad he managed to squeeze through the small opening.

'I was worried because the hole looked small and I'm not the smallest person around,' he said.

'I have to hand it to the rescuers. It takes some bravery for these guys to go up there and do what they did.'

Mr Mohamed Sham Hussein, the hotel's front office manager told The New Paper this morning that the incident was being investigated and seemed to be 'an isolated incident'.

He added that this particular lift was about four to five years old and was last checked on Jun 10. He said that the other lifts had also been checked.

It is believed to be the first incident of its kind in Singapore.

posted by de @ 7:58 PM 0 comments

Helped out at Winnie's Concert today at the Esplanade as an emcee. It's a piano concert she holds every year for her students called Harmony Hour. Awww, the kids are soooo adorable, my favourite was 5 yr old, Erin Seow. She's the first to perform and she played "old macdonald had a farm". my heart melted like mashmellows over a glowing fire...

Came back and slept the whole day, dunno why i'm so tired... but as i was on the way back home, i suddenly had thoughts of where i stand in life right now... as in what i'm really doing with my life and how am i gonna achieve what i really want in it. It seems like there's so many endless things i WANT in life. but the actual fact is, there's only that much that i NEED. I guess that i have to be grateful for what i have right now. God, my family, my close pals, and my lovely job. am i short of something??? ha, well i'll leave that up to God to decide for me.

well i guess everybody wants somebody to love and to love in return. but i guess it's just so hard to find that special someone, that someone who will make you say "YES, she's the one i wanna spend the rest of my life with!" I guess i just need to push on till i find THE ONE..... God be my guide

posted by de @ 1:18 PM 0 comments

haven't been blogging for awhile. Reason? Slack lah, what else?
nothing interesting has been happening. back to the old boring life i have. woot!

managed to catch up with the vocal club people from TP. Des is leaving for aussie-land to study, so it was like a farewell dinner thingy. fwah, she lost so much weight, due to the operation she had! Take care mei, will miss you! man, i really miss those days of performing with Trey and watching the other bands play..... we were like one big happy family.

posted by de @ 11:24 AM 0 comments

Fwah, went to this case today where this dude cut his forearm accidentally with a glass-cutting machine...
there were 2 wounds. one on his hand, and the other on his forarm. it was all wrapped up by some firemen who were passing by.

While we were unwrapping the bandages, i was trying to imagine how bad the wound wound be. The firemen said that the smaller cut was on his hand. when i manage to take a look at the smaller wound, it was quite a deep and bad laceration. was then wondering how much worse can the bigger wound be. Yes, it was bad alright. the bigger wound was like a 10cm long laceration, so deep that his muscles and ligaments could be seen! woohoo! thank goodness the bleeding was arrested liao. we then bandaged his arm up and sent him to TTSH. While we were wheeling him into the hospital, blood started to gush out of his wound again! it was so furious it looked like a small water fountain spurting out ribena. had to temporarily arrest his bleeding using a blanket. Man! what a sight. luckily, he was calm and stable about it, if not he'll probably freaked out and faint or something. woot woot!

Man, i do need a holiday! getting kinda tired out... anyone wants to follow me? anywhere nice and affordable.... for like 2-4 days kind of thing.... =)

posted by de @ 10:39 AM 0 comments

Took out my guitar, hoping to create some new rifts for a song. Haven't touched the guitar in like ages.... but it feels the same, that good-old,kick-ass feeling when i'm playing it....

As i was strumming, Rusty came running up to me, looked at me in a puzzled way, and started barking and running away, then running back, barking then running away.... He hasn't seen a guitar in his life and he was quite freaked out to find out that the 'thing' actually create sounds! It's quite amusing actually, Rusty's full of surprises.... Love him to bits....
even though he chewed a hole through my pumas!!!

tired... work, but i'm loving it.....
everyday's a new day, i'm learning something new everyday
I thank God for it, for life

posted by de @ 8:51 AM 0 comments

Met up with Tim on tuesday after work. He dropped the most shocking news on me, he broke up with Gracy! They were like together forever.... but i guess that if you're together with someone for too long, and there's no plans and all, you might get a little disillusioned and all about the relationship and where it's heading.... i dunno, it varies from couple to couple....

Was in his car, and guess what, it broke down in front of Cineleisure!!! We were holding up traffic so i had to push his car while he steered. wah lao eh! and there were so many people there watching and all... thankfully there were 2 good samaritans there to help push the car while it hit a gradual slop up.... waited for the technician then the tow truck.... haha. oh well, it was an experience to remember.....

posted by de @ 2:58 AM 0 comments