“I was extremely shocked and saddened to hear the news earlier this morning from one of the firemen,” she told NST Online at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. “I couldn’t control my tears at knowing that the good man who saved my mother and I is no longer alive.”

“My mother and I are blessed to have been given an opportunity to meet him and thank him before he passed on,” she said. “We are leaving with our hearts filled with sadness,” she said.

Nur Hamidah, 23, who now lives in Surabaya, Indonesia, had returned to Malaysia this week for a television interview and a meeting with Zaman Khan, then federal CID director, who had been photographed holding her after the rescue.

Yogaraja, 51, who works with the Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department’s Canine Tracking Unit, died in an accident in Puchong at 2am this morning, NST Online reported. He sustained severe head injuries when his motorcycle crashed while on his way to work.

Nur Hamidah extended her condolences to Yogaraja’s family. “I hope they stay strong. I know it’s not easy to lose a family member especially someone like Yogaraja who was a real-life hero.”

She and her mother, Umi Rasyidah Khoiruman, 43, who was also rescued by the fireman, were the sole survivors of the Highland Towers tragedy, in which 48 people died when the 12-storey apartment block collapsed after 10 days of heavy rain.

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