Double tragedy in Malaysia as father dies in sleep, smothers baby

The three-month-old infant was found with his face pinned under his dead father’s arm

A family in Malaysia has suffered a heartbreaking double tragedy after a baby was smothered by his father, who had died in his sleep from a heart attack and rolled onto his child.

Three-month-old Muhammad Nur Daniel Nuruleffendy was pronounced dead by hospital officials in Melaka state, not long after he was brought in unconscious by his mother on Thursday morning.

Azura Abdul Mallik, 40, found her third child on her bed with his face under her husband’s right arm after coming back from her office at about 9.30am to take him for a check-up at a nearby clinic.

Both Daniel and her husband, Nuruleffendy Ibrahim, 35, were unconscious but the baby was still breathing at the time.

Nuruleffendy’s sister, Masturadiana Ibrahim, said she learned of the incident only after Azura came to her house frantically asking for help.

“She knocked repeatedly and called out my name saying: ‘Help me, help me!’,” Masturadiana, who lives opposite her brother and his family, told reporters at the Melaka general hospital.

Masturadiana said her sister-in-law had left the house at about 6am to send her two elder children, aged 16 and 15, to school. Azura, who had just finished maternity leave, had gone to clock in for her first day back to work before returning home to pick Daniel up for his scheduled immunisation.

After nobody came out to open the door for her, Azura had to climb through the window at the back of her house to get in. “She saw Erol’s [Nuruleffendy] arm was smothering the baby’s face,” Masturadiana said.

The women then rushed Daniel to the hospital.

After accompanying Azura to send Daniel for treatment, Masturadiana said she returned home to find an ambulance in front of her brother’s house.

Emergency services personnel told her that her brother had died. “They asked if anyone did CPR, I said nobody as I was rushing to send the child to hospital to try and save the child,” she said.

“They told me: ‘I’m sorry, his heart has stopped’,” said a tearful Masturadiana.

Fire and rescue officials confirmed that Nuruleffendy had been dead for about two to three hours before he was found, while Daniel died in hospital.

According to police on Friday, the postmortem showed that Daniel had died of lung injuries, likely caused by the pressure making it difficult for him to breathe. Nuruleffendy’s heart was found to have a blockage and two closed valves, and his death was classified as being caused by ischemic heart disease.