Narresh Rajandran said he had sent Adib to the Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC) after finding him, clad in his fireman’s uniform, lying unconscious and surrounded by a crowd by the road on Nov 27.

“I was with him at the back of the four-wheel vehicle which took him to the hospital. I checked on his pulse, which was weak. He was also having breathing difficulties.

“I was a Civil Defence Force trainee and had learnt some first aid treatment, but I could only tap on his chest and speak loudly to him, to make him aware that there was someone there with him. Conducting CPR on him was already out of the question,” he said when asked by conducting officer Hamdan Hamzah whether he had checked on Adib’s condition en route to the hospital.

Narresh also said he had found a footprint on Adib’s right ribcage when he took off the fireman’s shirt to use as a neck support.

“He did not respond to me the entire way to the hospital, and his pulse was dropping,” he said.

When asked by Hamdan about the crowd around Adib at the side of the road, Narresh said they had not offered any help as they were busy taking pictures.

He said after they arrived at SJMC, he had begged the medical staff to quickly treat Adib.

“They were asking where his documentation was, but I said that his life should be the priority rather than official documents,” he said.

The inquest was called by the government amid conflicting claims on the cause of Adib’s death.

Adib was part of the response team sent from the Subang Jaya fire and rescue station on Nov 27. He died at the National Heart Institute on Dec 17.