GEORGE TOWN, Jan 22 — Penang Fire and Rescue Department Director Saadon Moktar today warned the public not to make baseless accusations against the rescuers involved in the Penang Bridge crash.
He said the department has provisions in the law to take action against anyone who insults, disrupts or stops firemen from carrying out their duties.
“We can take action under Section 51 of the Fire Services Act,” he told reporters today.
He was responding to an incident where a Facebook user insulted the firemen involved in the Penang Bridge search and rescue (SAR) operations.
A police report was lodged against the person who posted the insults on the social media platform.
Earlier today, the Facebook user went to the Perak Road Fire Station to personally apologise over his social media posting.
“Although he had apologised, we will still consider it first, we want to see if it’s genuine or just a gimmick,” Saadon said.
He said the man, who is from Penang, appeared remorseful when he apologised this morning.
Saadon said Fire and Rescue Department personnel had been conducting the SAR operations in accordance with all of its standard operating procedures (SOP).
“We hope that the public understands that we conduct our rescue works in accordance with our SOP,” he said.
The department was one of the agencies involved in the SAR operations for a Mazda sports utility vehicle (SUV) that plunged into the sea on Sunday morning after an accident with another car.
The SUV was found about 15m from the crash site at KM4 of the bridge at 4pm yesterday but efforts to retrieve the vehicle have failed so far due to strong currents and low visibility.
The body of the 20-year-old driver, Moey Yun Peng, is believed to be still trapped inside the submerged car.
Operations to bring up the car started this morning and are still ongoing.
