Traders recall child's tragic fall in Kenanga Mall

That was the reaction given by traders at the Kenanga Wholesale City following the tragic fall of a six-year-old girl from the second floor of the shopping mall last Friday afternoon.

"I saw the victim's mother walking out of the washroom with her two children. While talking angrily, they headed to the escalator. I saw the two kids playing with the escalator railing.

"My colleague did yell, warning them not to play there. A few seconds later I saw one of the girls being 'lifted' by the escalator before she fell. After that I didn't dare to see any more," said Rita, who works in a snack store.

Her shop directly faces the second floor escalator where the incident took place.

"When she fell, nothing was heard. It happened so fast. Imagine, she fell from the second floor to B2, six levels down.

"After the fall, many people wanted to look. To date, there are still people checking out the area where the girl fell. People are just so curious," Rita told Astro AWANI when met at the mall on Saturday.

She added that her statement had been taken by the police as a witness to the incident.

Siti, a salesperson of a nearby shoe store next to the Level 2 escalator, said she was busy serving customers during the incident.

"When I heard the victim’s mother screaming, we all came out. When I looked down and saw the state of the victim, I screamed," she said, recalling the eerie moment.

She said following the incident, she observed parents to be more careful when shopping there.

Another trader, who only wished to be known as Ida, was also at Level 2 when the incident occurred.

"I was busy attending to customers. Suddenly everyone started screaming, but I didn't dare see. I was so scared," she said.

Ida said since the tragedy, that particular escalator has been closed, leading customers to only use the one next to it to go up and down.

As for Kamariah, who works in a clothing store on the first floor, she said she could only utter "Allahuakbar!" when she saw the girl falling.

"The area where she fell was narrow, you could hear a 'thud' when she reached the floor. I could only say 'Allahuakbar' at that point.

"I saw the victim's mother and she seemed to be dialing her phone," Kamariah added.

Meanwhile, lower ground scarf shop employees, Rowena and Lalah, said they saw the child's mother in an anxious state right after the fall.

"When I went out of the store, I saw the victim's anxious mother and she was handing her mobile phone to an unknown man and told him to tell the other person on the line where she was," said Rowena.

Lalah added: "When we found out what the 'thud' was, we just broke down in tears."

On Friday, the victim, identified as Nurhayada Sofia Musa, died at the scene due to severe head injuries.

She had been reportedly playing near the escalator area on the second floor of the mall when she fell to the carpark floor.

It was reported that her mother was seen to be in a heated discussion on her mobile phone at the time of incident.