KOTA KINABALU: A trapped elderly couple in the flood in Penampang near here could not ask for a better person to save them when the district police chief himself came to their rescue on Monday .
Supt Sammy Newton and his men had intended to check out the situation at Kampung Kolopis, one of the worst hit by the flood, when they saw that a four-wheel vehicle had fallen into a hole near the Kasigui roundabout with its back pointing towards the sky at about 6.30am. They saw an elderly woman at the back of the truck while an elderly man was still inside the vehicle. They are both believed to be in their late 60s.
“We immediately waded through the waist-high water to free the driver and walk him to safer grounds first before we moved on to the woman,” he said when contacted.Supt Sammy said they then sent them to the temporary flood shelter at the nearby Penampang Cultural Centre where there was a medical crew on standby.“To me, ranks or positions do not matter because this is people’s lives at risk.
After that, he said, he and his men then had to leave immediately to respond to a call over a woman who was swept away by flood waters.More than 2,000 housemen appointed in first half of this year