Coroner conducts inquiry into death caused by Penang freak storm

GEORGE TOWN - The coroner's court yesterday held site visits to Menara Umno in Jalan Macalister and the Northeast district police headquarters as part of the inquest to determine hawker Lim Chin Aik's death from the lightning arrestor that fell off the building during a freak storm in June.

Coroner Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim was accompanied by conducting officer Lim Cheah Yit and senior investigating officer Assistant Superintendent of Police Ibrahim Husin during the hour-long visit.

Present were counsel Naveen Singh and Norliza Mohd Ali, who were holding a watching brief for Lim's family and for the building owner, JKP Sdn Bhd.

At Menara Umno, the group spent 20 minutes on the top floor of the building with Khairul being briefed by JKP chief executive officer Datuk Adzmi Ariffin.

They proceeded to the site in Jalan Macalister, outside Pakistan Mosque, where the lightning arrestor and concrete slab had plunged 21 storeys onto the road.

The group inspected parts of a Honda City, which Lim, 44, was driving on the day of the incident, at the grounds of the district police headquarters.

The court fixed Nov 21 for submissions, after inquest proceedings spanning nine days, with 24 witnesses testifying.

It was reported that on June 13, a 15m section of a broken mast, along with a lightning arrestor from the top of the 93.6m Menara Umno, had plunged onto Jalan Macalister.

Lim's body was never recovered and is believed to be in the crater along with bits of concrete and strands of high-tensile steel from the arrestor.

Rescuers dug 7m into the ground but were forced to stop, fearing it might affect the stability of nearby buildings.