Woman Saves Domestic Helper Hanging on Building for Dear Life in Singapore

The domestic helper, whose name was not revealed, had reportedly locked herself in by accident at a Housing Board block in Bukit Panjang on Dec. 6 at around 8 a.m. because of a faulty doorknob, according to The Straits Times.

The maid tried to crawl out of the window and walk across the ledge to find a way back into the flat. Unfortunately, things turned into an extremely life-threatening experience after she went further.

The intense, heart-stopping moment was captured on video, which has since gone viral after it was posted online, by their neighbor across the street, 50-year-old Madam Anita Sahari.

“Even as I was recording the video, my hands were shaking,“ the housewife said.

Luckily, a tenant who rents a room in the same unit happened to be inside the apartment at the time. Only identified as Jane, she immediately went out to the corridor to help the maid after being notified by other neighbors of her predicament.

The neighbor yelled and banged on the front door of the pad “Your maid is on the ledge,” Jane recounted. “That was when I looked up and saw a hand outside the window.“

“For a moment, she disappeared from my view and I thought she had fallen. So I ran out of the flat to check if I could see her from the corridor, and thankfully she was still there. She can’t really speak English, so I was trying to signal to her to stop moving,” the 35-year-old secretary said who had been renting the room for five months. “I normally leave home before 8am for work, so perhaps it was fate I woke up late that day.“

“I held on to her with all my might. She was bigger than me, but I kept telling myself not to let go,” she continued.

It took about 20 seconds before the police arrived on the scene as Jane tried her best to hold on to the maid. When the police arrived, it took about one minute to save her from falling five stories to her death.

“The image of the maid crying as I held onto her, I can’t forget that. It was scary for her, but it was also traumatizing for me,” Jane said.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, according to the Singapore Civil Defense Force.

The maid’s employer, 54-year-old army regular, Mr. Raj, was immediately notified of the situation after she was saved.

“Fortunately, the tenant was home. If not, I wouldn’t know how to answer to the maid’s family,“ he said, noting that the family has a poor grasp of the English language and can only communicate in Tamil.

Shortly after the incident, the maid was reportedly sent to her agency on Thursday and returned back home to Myanmar.

Featured Image via YouTube / Straits Times