‘They insisted on going to school’, mother recounts final morning before three siblings’ deaths
Both children were determined to go, so their 18-year-old brother took them to school that morning to show them it was closed.
PONTIAN – A mother recounted how her three children insisted on going to school even after being told to stay home, as schools across Johor had been closed due to the haze.
Julaiha Munaji, 43, said she had told Nor Daniel Fikri Norlizan, 11, and Puteri Naufal Raisya, eight, not to go to school.
"I already told them they did not need to go, but they insisted," she said.
Both children were determined, so their 18-year-old brother, Nor Daniel Aiman, took them to school that morning to show them it was indeed closed.
"I was told that the school's closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera recorded the motorcycle they were riding in front of the school and that they turned around immediately to head home.
"The primary school is only two kilometres from our house. A man on his way to work came to tell us that the motorcycle carrying my children had been involved in an accident near our home, just 200 metres away.
"My husband and eldest son rushed to the scene and the children were taken to Pontian Hospital," she told reporters when met at her home in Kampung Parit Haji Siraj on Thursday.
The mother of six said she had noticed nothing unusual about her children, who were as cheerful as ever before leaving the house.
"Fikri told me he wanted to play football. He even washed his shoes thoroughly and left them out because he wanted to wear them later.
"My youngest, Puteri, did her schoolwork at night and continued again the next morning," she said.
She said the three siblings were very close and had slept together with the family the night before the tragedy.
"Aiman was a quiet person, but he liked to joke around with me. They were all very close.
"Four months ago, I was involved in an accident after sending my child to school. Aiman, my third child, helped me a lot and took his younger siblings to school," she said.
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