While retrieving her belongings from the back of a coach, a woman in Malaysia ended up locked in the luggage compartment.

The passenger, who goes by the username "Little Fairy" (translation from Mandarin), posted about her encounter on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.

The incident took place on Jun. 25, aboard a bus operated by a Malaysian transport company.

Stuck in the boot

The 20-year-old passenger had been travelling alone from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru (JB) via the coach.

When she reached JB at around 5:50pm, she alighted to retrieve her suitcase.

But it had been pushed "very far inside" the luggage compartment, she said.

As she crawled inside to retrieve her suitcase, she heard the sound of the door closing.

"I turned around and hit the compartment door with my hands. But nobody could hear me," she wrote in Mandarin.

"You can't understand how I felt at the time...I hope nobody else will have to go through such a frightening experience."

Couldn't breathe

When nobody came to her aid, she decided instead to contact the bus operator.

She'd received a message in the morning confirming the booking, and called the number provided.

"I said, I'm locked in the luggage compartment, could you call the driver for me?"

But the person on the line did not seem to understand and hung up.

She then texted the number, but her message was left unread.

She soon felt breathless and dizzy. Afraid that she would faint and not wake up, she tried calling the number again.

A woman answered. "She was very rude and asked me where I was, and why I was in the compartment," the passenger wrote.

"Just thinking about it makes me angry."

At 6:06pm — over 10 minutes after her first call — the bus finally pulled over.

The people waiting for the bus appeared "stunned" when they saw her emerge from the luggage compartment, she recalled.

As she alighted, the bus driver allegedly smiled at her and explained that he thought that she had already left.

"Without even apologising!" she wrote. "I really burst into tears."

Did not see her due to rain

When her boyfriend contacted the bus operator later on, the company apologised and said it would take steps to ensure that such an incident would not happen again.

The driver had not seen her retrieving the luggage due to the heavy rain, the company explained.

"We immediately took necessary action on the mentioned driver and staff for not informing us of this issue beforehand," the customer service officer said.

"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and distress your girlfriend experienced."

Mothership has reached out to the bus operator for comment.

Top image from XHS