06-05-2025
Mother's heartbreak: Daughter killed in Sibu crash wanted to wear 'tangu' for Gawai
Aveera wearing a 'tangu'.
SIBU (May 6): Six-year-old Alverry Aveera Abdullah, who perished in a collision involving a motorcycle and a lorry at Jalan Salim here yesterday, had wanted to wear a 'tangu' for Gawai Dayak this year.
According to her mother Siti Khadijah Abdullah, Aveera often asked when the 'tangu' – beaded chest adornment which is a part of Iban women traditional costume – that she had been making would be ready.
'I worked hard to finish the 'tangu' quickly despite many mistakes made along the way. I even bought 'kain tating' because we think it will look beautiful on you.
'But we never thought that you would leave us this soon,' Siti Khadijah said in a heart wrenching post on Facebook accompanied by photos of her daughter.
The 'tangu' made by Siti Khadijah for her daughter.
Siti Khadijah also lost her father Uchong Antang, 80, in the incident that occurred at about 11.20am.
When contacted, she said that her father was picking her daughter up from school to take her to their longhouse before the incident.
She also said that Aveera was buried at Kemuyang Muslim Cemetery this afternoon, while a funeral wake for her father will be held at Rumah Grace Itun in Jalan Salim.
Siti Khadijah appealed to social media users to stop spreading the video of the incident.
In a statement yesterday, Sibu police chief ACP Zulkipli Suhaili said that the elderly man who rode the motorcycle was confirmed dead at the scene while his pillion rider, the girl, was pronounced dead while receiving treatment at Sibu Hospital.
'Initial investigations indicated that the motorcycle was exiting the junction at Rumah Birai into Jalan Salim when it was hit by a lorry coming from Sibu Jaya.
'The lorry driver failed to avoid the motorcycle,' he said.
The case is being investigated under section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987. Alverry Aveera Abdullah lead tangu
