KUALA LUMPUR: The sole fatality in the explosion at HELP University here today was a 24-year-old intern from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) who was undergoing industrial training with an air-conditioning maintenance company.
The dean of UTAR’s electrical and electronic engineering faculty, Chang Yoong Choon, said the victim, Soo Yu Juan, was a third-year mechanical engineering student scheduled to complete his industrial training on Thursday.
Chang said the industrial training is a routine academic requirement for engineering students, designed to provide exposure to a real-world working environment.
“This incident is deeply shocking and unexpected.
“The student went to the location as part of a routine assignment related to air-conditioning maintenance work,” he said when met at Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s forensic department.
Chang added that the university provides insurance coverage for all students, including accidents occurring during industrial training, and will submit an insurance claim once all the relevant documents had been obtained.
“I am personally representing UTAR to manage this case until its resolution as part of our commitment to the student and the victim’s family,” he said.
He also noted that the company where the victim was interning had expressed its commitment to support and assist Soo’s family, including in funeral arrangements.
Nine other people were injured in the explosion at HELP University in Bukit Damansara here this morning.
The Kuala Lumpur fire and rescue department said the explosion occurred in the air-conditioning compressor room located within the fourth-floor cafeteria while maintenance works were being carried out.
