Too much control will stress him, dad says of injured cyclist
Survivor of yesterday’s horror crash now in hospital with hip injury, sneaked out of home despite warnings.
“I don’t care, maybe other parents do. To me it’s normal. We can’t try to control him too much or else he would be stressed out,” Muhammad Fatoni Musrap, 45, told FMT at Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA) where his son, Fitri Muhammad Fatoni,17, is warded.
Fatoni said he had barred his son from going out late at night on numerous occasions but the boy was stubborn and would sneak out of the house after the family went to sleep.
“I didn’t realise because we were sleeping then. I thought maybe he went nearby but he went far away.
“We already told him not to go out because the following day was a school day.”
Fitri, who suffered hip injuries and cuts to his body, still cannot get up or walk.
His two friends, Mohamed Shamizal Iqmal Abdullah,16 and Muhd Nazri Mahmudi,13, are fighting for their lives in the ICU.
Another five boys are still being treated for serious injuries. These include Muhamad Farhan Che Mat, 16 (broken arm); Abdul Samad Abdul Kadir, 16 (broken leg); Muhammad Arif Salman, 15 (serious head injuries); Muhammad Zulfadli Yusri, 19 (broken leg) and Muhammad Arasshat Abdullah, 14 (broken leg).
The eight boys are part of a group of 16 who were involved in an accident yesterday morning when a car slammed into them. The 16 boys were out cycling along Jalan Lingkaran Dalam in Johor Bahru at the time.
Another eight boys died in the accident. Six of them were killed on the spot and another two died on the way to the hospital.
Fatoni, a trader, said he was glad that his son survived and said he would monitor his son’s actions but won’t try to control him excessively.
Meanwhile, an aunt of Fitri who wanted to be known only as Fizah, 32, said the accident would serve as a lesson to other “bicycle boys”.
She said even though cycling may be a hobby for these boys, parents still needed to monitor their children’s movements and bar them from cycling late at night without supervision.
“Of course it is sad when we find out our nephew was involved in the accident. We also know it is wrong for them to go out at night,” said Fizah, adding it would have taken Fitri an hour to cycle from his house in Skudai to Jalan Lingkaran Dalam.
“When Fitri regained consciousness he only said that all his friends were dead but he didn’t say more. Maybe he’s still traumatised.”
She too said that Fitri’s mother had advised him against going out late at night on many occasions but this advice fell on deaf ears.
Yesterday, police said the victims were all part of a group of 30 to 40 teenagers, aged 13 to 17 years, who were out cycling at 3am.
It was believed that the boys were blocking some roads before being mowed down by the car in Jalan Lingkaran Dalam.
The police have said that the 22-year-old driver of the car which hit the boys, was not drunk or speeding.
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