Teen crushed to death after hair is caught in machine

Teen crushed to death after hair is caught in machine

A TEENAGE worker was killed in a freak accident in a Hong Kong laundry factory on Friday, when her long hair and scarf accidentally got caught in the heavy-duty laundry press.


LOSS: (Above) Relatives, including the sister (centre) of Miss Halima (below) reacting to news of the tragedy. --PICTURES: APPLE DAILY

Miss Halima, 18, screamed as her head and torso were slowly dragged into the machine, crushing her to death.

Her horrified colleagues were too panic-stricken to think of turning off the machine until it was too late, reported Apple Daily.

Rescue workers had to break open the machine and cut off some of her hair before they could extract her body.

For the family of the Pakistan-born Miss Halima, the accident was all the more tragic as she was supposed to quit working at the laundry factory next week.

The whole family was supposed to return to Pakistan next month to attend the double wedding of two of Miss Halima's brothers.

She was looking for a school to study in full-time when she returned in September.

Ms Halima moved to Hong Kong with her parents when she was just 1.

Spoke Cantonese

The fourth of seven siblings, she adopted a Chinese name - Lee Xing Er - to better fit into the community and spoke fluent Cantonese.

She had started working at the laundry factory only in February.



She had just returned to Hong Kong after spending a year in Pakistan to look after her sick grandfather.

Because she missed a year of school to do so, she worked in the day to help support her family and went to night classes when her shift ended.

Her father had previously worked with the same laundry company as a driver, while her younger sister still works there.

It was the sister who recommended she join the company for a salary of HK$5,000 ($930) a month.

The sister said Miss Halima's job was simple. She was to take the freshly washed bedsheets of their hotel client and put them into the laundry press.

When the sheets were ready, she would take them out and fold them.

That fateful day, at about 4pm, Ms Halima was loading the sheets as usual when her waist-long hair and headscarf got caught in the machine.

Because her colleagues didn't think of turning off the power, the machine only stopped by itself when Miss Halima's body became stuck.

It was only then that her colleagues reacted and called the police and an ambulance.

More than 40 of her relatives rushed to the scene when they heard the news. Many wept openly.

Her older brother claimed there were supposed to be sensors on the laundry press to stop such accidents, but these had been removed. The factory denied this.

Police are investigating the accident.

Source: http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,208840,00.html?

wat a sad news..

that's really sad she was working to support her family.....and this happen

Aww that is indeed very sad.
She was just about to leave the factory, and go back to Pakistan to enjoy happy moments with her family.
But now it won't happen.
This just shows, anything can happen anytime.