Enforcement officers in Malaysia discover makeshift bedroom inside drain
On Saturday (15 March), enforcement officers in Penang, Malaysia made a shocking discovery: a makeshift bedroom inside a drain.
The video of the find, initially posted on TikTok by a Seberang Perai City Council enforcement officer, quickly went viral.
It was later removed from the platform for unspecified reasons, but the video was saved and shared on other social media platforms, WeirdKaya reported.
In the brief clip, the officer lifts a cardboard door covering the drain’s entrance, revealing a small bed with a mattress and a yellow blanket.
Source: Saiful Torres on Facebook
A small metal rack and other household items, including bottles of cooking oil, were also found in the cramped space.
Drain cleared out of homeless man’s belongings
An employee at a nearby gas station told Sin Chew Daily that a middle-aged homeless man has been living inside the drain for several months.
The employee mentioned that he would occasionally notice light coming from the drain at night, which he believed to be from an oil lamp.
He added that the homeless man would sometimes visit the gas station to use the restroom, but he did not harass others or beg for food.
When reporters visited the location on Monday (17 March), they found the drain cleared of the homeless man’s belongings.
However, remnants of incense sticks and oil lamp wicks, likely from religious worship, were still visible outside the drain.
Little water flowed in the drain
Seberang Perai City Council member Bernard Cheen told Sin Chew Daily that he first learnt about the incident from a video circulating on social media.
“The city hall landscape team went to the area on the 15th of this month to trim trees and discovered someone living in the hole,” he said.
The following day, the team removed the belongings from the drain but did not encounter the homeless man.
Source: Sin Chew Daily
According to Mr Cheen, the Public Works Department had enlarged the drainage outlet along the roadside in 2018 to address internal drainage issues at the intersection.
“The hole was originally about 10 inches in diameter and was expanded to 3 feet by 4 feet,” he explained.
He added that, due to the low water flow, the man was able to live comfortably in the drain.
Also read: Man reportedly living near power substation in Sembawang carpark, bathes in rubbish collection point
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Featured image adapted from Sin Chew Daily, Saiful Torres on Facebook.
