No state Deepavali celebration as mark of respect for HSA victims

There will be no state Deepavali celebration in Johor as a mark of respect for the victims of the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) fire on Tuesday.

Chairman of the Johor Unity and Human Resources Committee R. Vidyananthan said the state government and public were still mourning the incident and wanted to show respect to the victims and their family members.

He said the incident which killed six critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit was still fresh in the minds of the people.

"We have decided not to have a state level Deepavali celebration this year following the sad incident at the HSA. We want to respect the victims and the feelings of their families," he told Bernama when contacted here today.

Yesterday, the MIC announced the cancellation of its Deepavali open house this Saturday to respect the victims and their families following the fire at the ICU in HSA.

In a related development, Vidyananthan said the state government would pay for transporting the remains of the fire victims for funeral rites in their hometowns.

In the incident at about 9am, six critical patients in the ICU were killed while another was saved. Three HSA staff were also injured and receiving treatment at the Sultan Ismail Hospital.

Those killed were K. Logeswaran, 20, Choo Lin Fung, 37, Toh Ah Wah, 60, Yusof Hassan, 53, M. Kaliama, 23 and C. Neeramala Devi, 24.

Yesterday Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled said the state government would contribute RM2,000 to the families of the victims who died, RM5,000 to those who were seriously injured and RM3,000 to those injured in the tragedy. -- BERNAMA