IPOH, July 13 — A routine day in SMK St Michael nearly turned tragic for an 18-year-old student when the ceiling fan fell on him.
Lower Six Science student Sam Ming Hui was sitting in a Pengajian Am class at around 9.30am when the fan became detached from the ceiling.
He escaped with about a seven-cm long gash on his left cheek and none of his other classmates were hit or injured by the fan.
Recalling the incident, Sam said he heard a clicking sound coming from the fan before it fell.
“It fell on my left side and I was too shocked to react. I felt the pain and saw a lot of blood, before I was given a tissue to stem the bleeding,” he said when met at his hospital bed.
“It all happened so fast. I do feel slightly worried when I look at ceiling fans now.”
Headmaster T. Gunalan said a bolt inside the fan had snapped.
Issues with the bolts of the fan, he said, were not usually detected during servicing.
Gunalan said the school had replaced both fans in Sam’s class, stressing that safety was paramount.
“Maintenance of our amenities has been up to date and we will be carrying out thorough inspections throughout the school, “ he said.
“I believe this has never happened in the school’s history, and we are all extremely sympathetic with Sam’s plight.”
Sam, who only enrolled at the school this year, was warded overnight at a local private hospital.
His father Sam Yau Seng said he viewed the incident as an accident but urged the school and authorities to learn from it.
“A few inches higher and it could have hit his eye. A few inches lower and it xould have cut his neck.
“This must be a sign or lesson for the authorities to regularly maintain and check these appliances,” he said.
