'Cannot breathe': Woman gets trapped in luggage compartment of bus heading to JB
A woman in Malaysia was left breathless and dizzy after being trapped in the luggage compartment of a coach bus for about 10 minutes.
In a Xiaohongshu post on Wednesday (June 26), the 20-year-old passenger said she was travelling alone to Johor Bahru and had taken a bus operated by SC Southern Express, which departed from Kuala Lumpur at 12.45pm on Tuesday.
When she reached JB in the evening, it was raining heavily. Noticing that her suitcase had slid further into the luggage compartment, she crawled inside to retrieve her belongings — only for the door to slam shut behind her.
"I turned around and hit the compartment door with my hands, but nobody heard me," she wrote, adding that she was extremely scared.
The passenger quicky took off her face mask and asked an employee of the bus company for help via WhatsApp.
"Help," one of her messages read. "Cannot breathe."
She recounted in her post: "As the bus moved, I kept wondering if the driver had received news that I was inside the luggage compartment and if he was going to open the door for me.
"I was starting to feel a little dizzy, but I held on because I was afraid that I would not wake up if I passed out."
About 10 minutes after she called for help, the passenger was finally freed.
"People waiting for the bus were shocked when they saw me inside the luggage compartment," the woman said.
She also claimed that the driver did not apologise to her and had smiled and said he thought she had taken her bag and left.
Adding that she had burst into tears afterwards, the woman dubbed the ordeal as the "most terrifying moment in my life".
Her boyfriend subsequently contacted the bus operator to alert them to the incident.
In their reply to him, the company apologised for the inconvenience and distress that the woman experienced.
"Due to the heavy rain, the driver did not see her retrieving her luggage and mistakenly closed the door. We are sorry for this oversight," the text message said.
The company added that action will be taken against the driver as well as staff member for not informing them of the matter, and that they will be taking immediate steps to ensure it does not happen again.
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lim.kewei@asiaone.com
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