UMNO Penang Building: Lim´s Family Keeps Vigil at Site

USPA NEWS - It is an anxious Father´s Day for the family of food hawker Lim Chin Aik, 44, who is believed to be buried at the site of the lightning arrestor collapse at Jalan Macalister here. Lim´s eldest son Chia Yiang, 20, said the family usually celebrated father´s day with a dinner and cake every year.

“We are very sad today. It´s Father´s Day and we should be celebrating together but he has yet to be found,“ he told reporters at the scene of the mishap today. Lim, who is a culinary arts student at a local college, said he wished to follow in his father´s footsteps and get into the food business when he graduates. He said his father is a loving man who always advised them to be good to everyone. Meanwhile, Lim´s wife Lee Chai Song, 48, said she was resigned to whatever fate had in store for them. “I´ll accept it if he´s gone but just hope they´ll find him soon,“ she said. Last night Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi confirmed that the chassis number of the car which was found at the site matched that of Lim´s Honda City.

He said the discovery solved the case of the 44-year-old man who was reported missing since the day of the incident, last Thursday. Clearing works around the collapsed insulation beam at Menara UMNO in Macalister road here will continue until midnight. Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the works must go on to prevent other complications even though the beam which was still precariously suspended from the building had not been shifted. “According to the original plan, we will wait until the beam is shifted before we do the clearing works because we are afraid it might suddenly fall. “But now we cannot delay because the soil is subsiding due to the broken underground pipe,“ he told reporters at the scene of the incident here today.

Meanwhile, the water disruption around Datuk Keramat, Kampung Jawa, Komtar and Jalan Anson here had not been fully restored and expected to continue until tomorrow. An evening storm wreaked havoc in Penang today causing the communications tower atop the Umno building in Jalan Macalister here to collapse, leaving one person dead and eight others injured. Jahir Hussain Sulaiman, 46, the driver of a pick up truck who was seriously injured in the incident later died at the Penang Hospital. His nephew Azharudeen Mohd Mohideen, 18, told reporters at the hospital´s mortuary at 11.30pm that his uncle had died. The antenna had collapsed on his vehicle and six other vehicles that were parked below.