KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — In a tragic turn of events, two Samaritans who rushed to the aid of a snatch theft victim instead ended up running their vehicle over the victim who was sprawled on the road.

The 21-year-old driver and his friend, 23, then did their best to rush the victim to the nearest hospital. However, she died upon arrival due to a ruptured heart and other injuries.

The tragedy occurred at about 2am yesterday when the victim, Shahrinawati Abu Bakar, 30, parked her car outside the Palm Villa condominium in Ampang.

The AirAsia X ground staff was just a few steps away from home when two men on a motorcycle tried to grab her bag. The impact caused the victim to fall and she began screaming.

At that point, a car with the two men on board happened to pass the area. The driver had either heard her screams or noticed the incident from his rear-view mirror.

Without any hesitation, he reversed the car at high speed — not realising the victim was on the ground — and ran right over her.

The two suspects on the motorcycle escaped, while one of them is believed to have been injured in the incident.

The entire 10-second tragedy unfolded in front of two security guards who were just too shocked to react.

When The Malay Mail visited the scene, the writer was allowed to see the incident which was captured by the Palm Villa condominium’s closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV).

The chairman of Palm Villa’s joint management committee, N. Selva Santhosham, said due to the rampant snatch theft cases there, residents had put up six lamp posts using the condo’s funds to brighten up the streets.

After the two men managed to get the victim into the car, they passed their contact numbers to the guards asking them to pass it to Shahrinawati’s family members before rushing her to the Gleneagles Hospital in Ampang.

Ampang Jaya police chief ACP Amiruddin Jamaluddin said police have recorded the statement of the two men, two security guards and the victim’s sister.

“There were no slash wounds on her and none of her belongings were missing, the cause of death was consistent with that of the accident.”

He said police had also retrieved a copy of the CCTV tape that captured the entire incident.

“A manhunt is on for the two suspects,” he said.

Unfortunately, the registration number of the suspect’s motorcycle was not noted by the witnesses.