KUALA NERUS: "I was inside the hall for 10 minutes to watch my younger sibling receive her degree before family members contacted me to inform me that my father had fainted outside the hall of Sultan Zainal Abidin University (UniSZA) yesterday," said Nor Izzati Md Non, 25.
Nor Izzati is the daughter of Md Non Nawang, 68, better known as Pok Nong Celup Tepung, who was reported to have passed away at 11.40pm yesterday at Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital (HSNZ) in Kuala Terengganu, believed to be due to a heart attack.
She said that during the incident, she, her mother Radziah Omar, 62, her late father, and other family members were attending the graduation ceremony of her youngest sibling, Nor Arissyah, 24.
She said that her father, who had fainted and was unconscious, was then taken to the UniSZA Clinic before being referred to Sultan Zainal Abidin Hospital (HoSZA) and then transferred to HSNZ in Kuala Terengganu for further treatment.
"My late father had a history of high blood pressure and heart disease, and the doctor who treated him informed us that he suffered a heart attack while at UniSZA," she said.
Nor Izzati added that her father's poor health and fever since Saturday had led them to ask him to rest outside the hall for a while.
"Father couldn't manage to enter the hall, and suddenly he collapsed. He didn't have the chance to celebrate my sibling's achievement of receiving a degree in Food Technology," she said.
She said that the body was buried at the Islamic Cemetery in Hajar Gong Awang Lik, Mengabang Telipot, here at 11.30am.
"My siblings and I will continue the legacy of 'Pok Nong Celup Tepung' as my late father leaves behind the ICT shop he has been running for the past 30 years," said the seventh of eight siblings.