Unspeakable loss: A car carrying the toddler’s family leaving the Hospital Sultanah Aminah mortuary in Johor Baru.
JOHOR BARU: He was an active and happy toddler who was placed in a baby chair as his family dined at a restaurant here, when he kicked at the table, tipping the chair over and hitting his head on the floor.
The two-year-old died, and his young mother is devastated over the death of her only child.
“His mother is in anguish as it happened before her eyes,” said a close family member, who declined to be named.
The relative said the boy and his parents were having lunch at a restaurant in Taman Sutera here yesterday when the freak accident took place.
“It’s a tragedy for the entire family. He was a happy and active child,” the relative, who is in her 40s, told The Star at the Hospital Sultanah Aminah mortuary here.
She added that the boy’s 29-year-old mother, who works as a hypermarket sales assistant, was too shattered to speak to anyone.
The body, the relative said, would be placed at his family home in Taman Universiti before the funeral today.
She declined to disclose where the boy would be buried.
After the post-mortem was completed, two female relatives were also seen holding the mother’s hands while accompanying her to a waiting car.
Commenting on the incident, Johor Baru North Deputy OCPD Supt Fariz Ammar Abdullah said the family arrived at the restaurant at around 2pm.
Tragedy struck about an hour later. “The boy was said to have suddenly kicked the table, tipping the baby chair over.
“That was when his head hit the floor, causing him to cry loudly before fainting,” he said, adding that the restaurant staff also witnessed the accident.
The father rushed the boy to a nearby private clinic, where the doctor advised him to seek help at a hospital due to the toddler’s injuries.
“When the father took the boy to a private hospital in Iskandar Puteri, the child was pronounced dead by a medical officer there,” said Supt Fariz Ammar.
He added that there was no criminal element detected so far but the case had been classified as sudden death and was being investigated.
