KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — A ginger cat that fell into a canal in Singapore was saved from drowning by six people who devised a contraption using an umbrella and a USB cable.
In a post shared on social media, Jessica Tse was on her way home with her husband at 6.30pm on Monday after bringing their son to be vaccinated at Jalan Besar.
“There was already a man there with an extended dustpan trying to scoop the cat out, but it kept falling off.”
“Soon after, another man came with a net, which also didn’t work,” she reportedly said by Mothership.
That was when Tse and her husband realised they could help.
“My husband and I had our umbrella with us, and I had my phone charger USB cord with me, so I used that to tie a tight knot to secure the umbrella to the long stick, which worked.”
After securing the parts, at least six people gathered by the railing to extend a hand.
From the clip, two men could be seen climbing over the railing and were holding on to it while lowering two contraptions into the water to coordinate their rescue.
One man was holding on to a fishing net with a long stick, while Tse’s husband was holding on to a long stick tied to an umbrella.
The man using the fishing net could be seen nudging the cat onto the opened umbrella, while the other person gingerly lifted the umbrella out of the water like a scoop.
All the while the cat could still be heard meowing loudly but it instinctively got onto the umbrella.
At one point, however, the umbrella appeared unable to withstand the weight of the animal and water and ended up upturned causing the cat to almost fall off again.
The two men persisted to keep the cat as still as possible on the umbrella as they lifted it up slowly.
When the crowd realised they were going to be successful in getting the cat over the railing, there were sighs of relief and applause broke out.
The cat is said to belong to a nearby resident.
