An unfortunate incident to report from Sabah, Borneo – a 25-year-old woman was preparing to juice and bottle sugarcane to sell at a nearby Ramadan bazaar, using a large, motorized machine, when her hand got caught inside.
Family members who were within earshot reported that Era Fazira Ramli screamed out in pain at the Tawau-area market, and that the machine was shut-off by individuals who were nearby.
Fire and Rescue officials were called to Era Fazira’s home in the Kampung Sentos area at 10am, Tuesday morning, and reported that they found the victim’s hand had been crushed all the way up to her wrist.
While they were able to remove her hand from the machine, and give first-aid, she was ultimately sent to hospital for treatment.
Sadly, sugarcane juice machine accidents are not uncommon, with another story making headlines this festive season, after a 50-year-old man in Kelantan lost four fingers in another incident. Having sold sugarcane juice for six years, he told local media that he is usually quite cautious.
The father of five was cleaning his machine trying to remove fibers, having forgotten to turn the main power source off. As he was cleaning the machine, he described that it suddenly turned back on, and pulled his hand with force back into the machine, crushing it “just like sugarcane.” He was able to turn the machine off himself, before going to a nearby hospital.
We wish both victims a speedy recovery.
