‘She looked at me before she stopped breathing’: Father grieves 17-year-old daughter crushed by collapsed beam in M’sia temple
The father of a 17-year-old student who was killed after a 1,000kg beam collapsed on her in a temple in Malaysia has spoken out, saying that the family helped out there regularly and expressing grief as he recounted the incident.
The teen, Guo Yujie (transliterated), was helping to clean at the temple — located in Selangor, Malaysia — when the beam struck her. She sustained severe injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her father, Guo Chuiyi (transliterated), told Malaysian media outlet Sin Chew Daily at the funeral hall on April 8 that his father used to visit the temple almost every night, changing lamp wicks and cleaning the interior.
After suffering a stroke, the victim’s grandfather had difficulty moving around, prompting the rest of the family to step in and help out at the temple.
Although previous reports state that only Yujie and her mother were at the temple on the day of the tragedy, Sin Chew Daily reported that Mr Guo and his family were on the premises that day as well.
“After the beam hit my daughter, I rushed over immediately and held her in my arms. At that moment, her hands were still trembling slightly, and she opened her eyes to look at me, but she stopped breathing shortly afterward. I collapsed on the spot,” he said, shedding tears as he recalled the incident.
“Our family has done nothing wrong. We help out at the temple every day, so why haven’t the gods protected Yujie properly?” Mr Guo said, adding that she was a diligent student and filial daughter.
He also hoped that the temple’s council would explain the cause of the incident, noting that the beam had only been installed about four years ago.
“We need justice for our daughter and for us as her family. We hope we won’t just get a hasty explanation, because this is a human life,” he told China Press.
Members of the public who saw the broken beam said that the wood showed signs of mould at the areas where it broke.
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