By Asia Samachar | Malaysia |
In the quiet, anxious hours that followed a sudden explosion at a Kuala Lumpur university, one family found itself suspended between fear and faith.
For the parents of 19-year-old law student Reeya Kaur Thandal, the ordinary rhythms of life were shattered in an instant, replaced by hospital corridors, whispered prayers and an unyielding belief that their daughter will pull through.
Reeya, a first-year student at HELP University, suffered multiple skull fractures and bleeding in the brain after an air-conditioning compressor exploded during maintenance work at the Bukit Damansara campus on Monday (Jan 12). She was rendered unconscious and rushed to Hospital Kuala Lumpur, where doctors carried out a procedure to assess whether surgery would be required.
“She was the most severely injured compared to the other victims. I feel like I am in a nightmare, hoping to wake up and find that this is not real,” her father, Ravin Singh, 52, told the New Straits Times.
Recalling how the family learnt of the incident through a phone call from one of Reeya’s friends, he said: “All we can do now is to pray for her and stay positive.”
The blast at the privately-held institution killed one person and injured nine others.
The fatality was identified as Soo Yu Juan, 24, a third-year mechanical engineering student from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was undergoing industrial training with an air-conditioning maintenance company. He was at the university on a routine assignment when the explosion occurred.
Reeya had been at the cafeteria on the fourth floor at the time. Her mother, Maneejeet Kaur Jasal, 47, described her daughter as the emotional centre of the household.
“The house has been so quiet ever since she moved away. My mother misses her. Even the dog misses her,” she told the newspaper.
Her aunt, Jagdish, echoed that sentiment, describing Reeya as “a fighter and a ‘tough cookie’”.
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