Her life was in his hands

TNP PHOTO: Ariffin Jamar

On the first Sunday of last month, Mr Louis Chow Chee Loon, 41, was booking a flight on his laptop when his wife, Madam Wong Siw Moi, dashed into the living room, screaming: “Someone is hanging (outside)!”

Mr Chow rushed to the laundry area in his 11th-storey flat, where he found a pair of legs dangling in front of him. The maid working in the flat above was hanging on to a ledge. Instinctively, Mr Chow grabbed one of her ankles.

He held on alone, and later, with the help of two neighbours, till the Singapore Civil Defence Force came and rescued the maid, Ms Nuraini.

Yesterday, Mr Chow, his wife and their neighbours, Mr Ong Hwee Lim and Mr Or Hiap Kiong, were recognised for their acts of bravery with a public spiritedness award.