An elderly Chinese man collapsed after trying to inflate his bicycle tires at a petrol station today (25 Oct), losing his breath and pulse but was saved by a participant of the annual Fire-walking Ceremony who happened to pass by.
Mr U. Silvakumar (58), was on the way to Fire-walking Ceremony when he saw a crowd around an elderly man lying on the ground. He quickly stopped and checked the man on the ground but could not detect his breath and pulse. Without hesitation, Mr Silvakumar immediately administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the elderly man.
An eyewitness, a ship boarding officer, Mr Kumar V said he and his friend had earlier seen the elderly man trying to inflate his bicycle tires at the petrol station when the ceremonial procession passed by. Soon after the elderly man had collapsed, four devotees held a ceremonial attire (called a vesthi) to make a temporary shelter for him.
Mr Kumar said the man had shown signs of response just before he was taken into the ambulance. “He was still unconscious, but we saw his stomach moving and immediately shouted ‘Om Sakthi’, which means ‘Praise the gods’, in relief,” Mr Kumar said.
Mr Silvakumar, was emotionally relieved and ‘overcome with emotion’ when he saw at the monitor in the ambulance that the man’s normal heartbeat had returned.
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was informed at 3.47pm of the incident which happened along Serangoon Road near Block 509. An ambulance was then dispatched by SCDF, which took the man to Tan Tock Seng Hospital after conducting an examination on him.
After the ambulance left, Mr Silvakumar went on to complete his fire-walking at 8pm.
Netizens praised the actions of Mr Silvakumar, some of the netizens comments are quoted below.
- Sundram Muthiah This is what being human means, regardless of race or religion. Going out of your way to help someone is priceless & what God wants us to do . I have great respect for those who helped especially Mr Silvakumar. OM SHAKTI!
- William Ng AWESOME. He is a role model and will inspire others to follow his footstep. God bless you.
- Ben Ooi Good deed!!! Will be credited into his karma for future lives..
- Mildred Sing MR SIVAKUMAR , wonderful and will definitely be blessed and achieve the goals in your mind for the fire walking ceremony.. You will make this elderly man understand that no matter what religion GOD has send you to save his life.. . Your children are very lucky to have a father like you.
Mr Silvakumar’s daughter, Aishwaryaa (24), said that her father is selfless and caring, he had influenced her and her siblings to ‘do all they can to help those people around them’.
Ms Aishwaryaa, who is a chemical engineer, said that during the Jakarta Marriott hotel bombing in 2009, her father ran to the bomb site to help victims. When it happened, he was staying at a place across from the hotel. While everyone was running away from the blast, he was running towards it to try to save people.
She said, “My family and I can never be more proud of the man we live with and who brought us up.”