Compiled by C. ARUNO, MAHADHIR MONIHULDIN and R. ARAVINTHAN
A MALAYSIAN narrowly escaped becoming a job scam victim thanks to media reports and a quick Internet search.
China Press reported that the 35-year-old man from Perak, said he found a job in Thailand after being made redundant a month ago.
The recruiter told him to take a flight to the Chiang Mai International Airport where a driver would pick him up.
Noticing the driver’s GPS navigation app indicated a four-hour estimated arrival time, the man asked where they were headed.
“The driver told me ‘Mae Sai’. I checked Google Maps and saw that it was close to Mae Sot (the city bordering Myanmar).
“I came to a sudden realisation that the media had reported that many trafficking victims ended up there,” he said.
The man asked to be let out of the car by lying that his mother was sick and he needed to return home.
He then asked for help at a petrol station and managed to get a taxi back to the airport.
The harrowing experience kept the man awake the entire night before managing to board the next flight to Malaysia in the morning.
He claimed that he took the job out of desperation after failing to secure a new job despite going for multiple interviews.
Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan was earlier reported to have said that police received 182 reports involving 226 Malaysians who became victims.
> The daily also reported that a man who attempted a floating bridge challenge during China’s Labour Day weekend died in front of his family members after he fell into the water.
The incident took place at a resort in Chongqing on April 30 where visitors could attempt to cross a lake on a floating wooden bridge without falling into the water.
Video footage showed the man running a short distance across the bridge before stopping to catch his breath, which caused it to start sinking.
Family members could be heard laughing and motivating him to get out and continue the challenge.
Laughter turned into stunned silence after the man did not emerge from the water after several minutes.
The 28-year-old left behind a wife and a young child.
The resort has temporarily stopped its operations following the accident but has yet to publicly address the issue.
> A stone tablet at the entrance of Guangdong’s Sacred Heart Cathedral was smashed into pieces after a child climbed on top of it to take a picture during the Labour Day weekend, Sin Chew Daily reported.
The incident happened on April 30 when a child climbed on top of the tablet, which marked the date it was recognised as a protected cultural icon.
After taking the photo, the child jumped down, which caused the tablet to topple over and break into pieces. The area has since been cordoned off.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
