Gillian’s heroic act leaves an overwhelming impact on the grateful family.
KOTA KINABALU: For a family of seven in Labuan, it is one thing to escape from the flames of death but quite another to discover that their saviour did not survive.
This is the heartbreaking situation Rogy @ Rothstewart James Pang found himself in after he along with his wife, mother-in-law and four young children escaped with just the clothes on their back, only to learn that their neighbour had died of smoke inhalation after his heroic and no less dramatic act.
Pang, 44, an oil and gas worker originally from Penampang, near here, said although he was thankful that his family was safe, he was extremely upset over the death of his neighbour Gillian Donald, also an oil and gas worker.
He revealed that another next-door neighbour, Mohd Zainal Tajuddin, was alongside Gillian when he was pulling him and his family to safety from their burning house, a double-storey terraced corner lot at Merinding Garden, off Jalan OKK Daud, early Wednesday.
Saved by their neighbours: Rogy (back, right) with his family members who were rescued by their neighbours Gillian and Zainal. They are at a relative’s house now.
“They were both selfless, no question about it ... and they are superheroes,” a distraught Pang said in an interview yesterday.
“They did not waste any time after seeing my daughters screaming from their room upstairs and tried finding a way to save us.
“My family made it because of my neighbours, especially Gillian and Zainal.
“What happened to Gillian was tragic ... he saved our lives but he lost his. The ‘why’ keeps playing in our minds,” Pang said, his voice trembling.
After helping the family to safety, Gillian, 41, apparently collapsed and passed out on the road in front of the house at about 4am.
Recounting the incident, Pang said he was awakened by the heat and noticed that the power was out.
Then he was shocked to find plumes of smoke in the house after opening the door of his room, where his wife and daughters aged five and 10 were also sleeping in.
“Then I heard my mother-in-law screaming for help in the adjacent room, where she had been sleeping with my other daughters aged 13 and 14. They were only steps away from ours, but I just couldn’t get to them because of the smoke and fire,” he said.
From the balcony, Pang said, he could see neighbours were already alerted to the fire and spotted Gillian and Zainal, 39, also an oil and gas worker, trying to get into their compound.
“But because our fence was a six-foot-high concrete wall and next to it was a big drain, they had to run from a distance to jump over the drain and cling to the wall before pulling themselves up and over it,” he said.
Using a ladder retrieved by other neighbours, he said, Gillian and Zainal first helped free his 67-year-old mother-in-law and his two younger daughters.
“After getting them to safety, they went to the side of our house where our room was located, to get us.
“Since the ladder wasn’t long enough, I had to hold my daughters by their wrists and lower them down to Gillian who was waiting at the top of the ladder,” Pang recalled, adding that other neighbours were holding the ladder to steady it.
Later at the hospital, Pang went to check on Gillian while waiting for his daughter to be treated for burns to her leg.
The doctor told him Gillian was in critical condition but that they would do their best to save him.
“About an hour later, the doctor came rushing out to tell me that despite their best efforts, he had passed away,” he said sadly.
Pang said he and his family went to pay their last respects to Gillian later on Wednesday and asked for forgiveness from his wife.
“But she was calm and consoled us instead, saying that her husband had lost his life after saving other people’s lives ... we were really moved.”
Pang said once he settled personal matters caused by the fire, he and his family would visit Gillian’s family.
“With his wife now a single mother to their three children, we will see how we can help his family,” he added.
Labuan police chief Supt Mohd Hamizi Halim said on Wednesday that efforts to revive the victim using CPR had failed.
He said Gillian was then sent by ambulance to the hospital and the medical officer later confirmed that the victim had died at 6.10am of suspected suffocation due to over-inhalation of smoke.
Over on social media, tributes poured in for the late Gillian, who was from Tawau, with many praising his heroic feat and at the same time heartbroken over his passing.
