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ESCAPE GONE WRONG
Singapore  JASMINE Seah was the sort of girl with a lot to live for. In school, the 15-year-old was popular, had many friends, was well-liked by teachers, and was doing well in her studies. The girl, who was of Thai-Singapore parentage, stood out because of her cutie-pie looks. She had a boyfriend and even took up a job as a part-time waitress. Then, barely a fortnight ago, she did something foolish. She had a quarrel with her mother, who stopped her from going out when it was late at night. Unhappy, Jasmine decided to sneak out from the window of her fourth-storey flat after midnight. It was not known what her parents were doing then. But while trying to climb out of the kitchen window, she appeared to have slipped or lost her grip. She fell four floors and lay unconscious. The incident happened at Block 531, Bedok North Street 3 in the early hours of 3 Jun. A police spokesman said they received a call about the incident at about 1.30am. Jasmine was rushed to Changi General Hospital but was pronounced dead at 2pm. Police are investigating the case as an unnatural death. Click to see larger image When The New Paper on Sunday team visited Jasmine's family last week, they were still in shock. Her Thai mother, who declined to be named, said: 'She was just a kid. During the old kampung days, kids would sneak out from the windows to play when parents don't let them go out of the house. 'But the houses we live in today are different.' Tears welled up in her eyes and she refused further comment. Jasmine has a younger sister. GOOD DAUGHTER Jasmine's father said she was a good daughter and he never had to worry about her schoolwork. She was a Secondary 3 student at Pasir Ris Secondary School and a member of the school's National Cadet Corp squad. 'Now that she is gone, we don't want to talk about her,' her father said in Mandarin. Jasmine's boyfriend could not be reached for comment. Before she died, Jasmine had worked briefly as a part-time waitress at cafe-bar George's in East Coast. A few hours before she fell to her death, she had called a manager there. The 21-year-old manager, who wanted to be known only as Gilbert, told The New Paper on Sunday: 'She had called to say that she couldn't work anymore, but she did not give any reason for her resignation.' He said Jasmine had worked for only two nights. 'After she said she was leaving, she asked if she could collect her two nights' pay. I told her 'yes' and told her to come after 11pm,' Gilbert recalled. 'She did not turn up.' Gilbert learned about Jasmine's death the day after she fell. He handed her salary, about $80, to her parents. Gilbert added: 'At her wake, her aunt told me that she had a quarrel with her mother who refused to let her go out that night. It's a pity that she died this way.' Also at the wake was Mrs Lee-Yap Foong Mui, the school's vice-principal, who was there with some of Jasmine's classmates. She told The New Paper on Sunday that Jasmine was a 'well-behaved girl'. 'She was a cheerful girl and her grades were above average,' Mrs Lee said. ALL DRESSED UP A neighbour, who wanted to be known as only Mr Lee, said he saw Jasmine lying motionless at the foot of the block and she was all dressed up, with her handbag and handphone in her hand. Mr Lee, who is in his 40s, was watching a movie on TV when he heard a loud thud. 'About five minutes later, I heard a woman screaming from upstairs and she ran down the stairs. She was hysterical.' The owner of a provision shop at Jasmine's block remembered her. 'It's a pity. She used to frequent the Internet shop next door and bought drinks from me. She has a pretty face that you'll not forget.' Labels: Misadventure
Man drowns at Pasir Ris Fisherman's Village
Singapore  Man drowns at Pasir Ris Fisherman's Village ADVERTISEMENT SINGAPORE: A man has drowned at Pasir Ris Fisherman's Village - his body was recovered early Saturday morning. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) says it was alerted to the incident just after midnight. Divers, ambulance and other support vehicles were dispatched to Pasir Ris Fisherman's Village, eight minutes after the first call. SCDF rescuers immediately deployed its amphibious vehicle to comb the shoreline. Police Coast Guard boats were also at the scene. Amidst poor visibility, at about 2.30am, SCDF DART divers spotted and retrieved the body of a Chinese man. He was found approximately 60 metres from where it was reported that someone had jumped into the sea. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at 3am. - CNA/yy Labels: Drown
Fallen tree outside Funan Centre slows morning traffic
Singapore  SINGAPORE: Heavy rain on Friday morning uprooted a tree on North Bridge Road, causing traffic to slow down, almost to a standstill, outside Funan Centre. No one was injured in the incident. Police said they received a call at about 10 in the morning. The National Parks Board was notified. It took them some two hours to clear the tree, before traffic resumed to normal. - CNA/yy Labels: Nature
Did slain boy's mum die of broken heart?
Singapore  HER life went to pieces four years ago when her only son was brutally beaten to death. But she never gave up the search to find his killers. But with each passing year, there were no leads and she lost hope. Click to see larger image Picture: Shin Min Daily News Last Wednesday, Madam SF Lee's decomposed body was found in her Ang Mo Kio flat. She was 45. Her body was discovered by a friend, who had been trying to contact her but failed. Her friend, who identified himself as Mr Li, told Shin Min Daily News that he was worried because Madam Lee had not been answering his calls. When he reached her flat, he was confronted by a decaying smell. He made a police report, and the police found the decomposed body. At her bedside was a bottle of red wine and some pills. Mr Li said she took to drinking and dancing to try to drown her sorrows after her son's tragic death. He added: 'She once told a group of close friends that she had already put aside enough money to send Dao Jing to university.' REWARD MONEY Mr Li knew Madam Lee through a mutual friend when she was still working at a factory in Jurong. 'Back then, she came across as easy-going and very chatty,' he said. After 19-year-old Wong Dao Jing was allegedly killed by a group of men in Lucky Chinatown Shopping Centre in February 2003, she even put up a $10,000 reward for information on the assailants. The money came from the $20,000 she received from selling her flat in Potong Pasir, where she had lived with her son after her divorce. When she spoke to The New Paper last February, she said it was painful to see mothers spending time with their sons. She said: 'Knowing that I can no longer do the same thing with my son really breaks my heart.' She also recalled the time he died: 'I was in such shock I couldn't even cry. Even when I saw his body, I couldn't believe he had died.' She would go into his room and flip through albums containing his pictures. She kept three of his photos in her wallet, taken with his ex-girlfriend a few months before his death. She said then that she had decided to sell her flat because living there alone had became unbearable. She said: 'It holds too many sad memories. I couldn't stop thinking of my son.' She then made it her life-long goal to track down her son's killers. She said: 'There have been no leads on the case all these years. The police last told me that the culprits have fled the country. My hopes are fading as time passes. But I have to try to find the people who killed my son. I cannot let him die unjustly.' In 2005, she approached the Crime Library for help. Mr Joseph Tan, founder of the Crime Library, told The New Paper that he used to distribute fliers together with Madam Lee in an attempt to get information on Dao Jing's death. Mr Tan only learnt of Madam Lee's death when The New Paper contacted him yesterday. He said: 'It's such a tragedy - she had been trying so hard to pull herself together, to pick up the pieces.' Mr Tan said he last called her about a week ago but she didn't answer. He said she had also not responded to several SMS messages. He told Shin Min Daily that about a month ago, Madam Lee called him to say that Malaysian police had new leads on her son's killers. But she didn't go into details. He said: 'When I last spoke to her a few weeks ago, she asked me to promise to keep pursuing her son's case as long as I live.' IN TOUCH Mr Tan said that they were in touch frequently, either by calls or SMS. He said she was taking English lessons and also a course on real estate. Sometimes, she also went to the library's victim support centre to share her experiences. He added that though he often offered to visit her at home, she turned him down, afraid that she would 'be a burden'. In the course of their friendship, which lasted nearly two years, he said she never stopped talking about her son. He knew that Madam Lee had taken to drinking. 'Of course, I tried to advise her against it, but that's just like telling a gambler not to gamble,' he said. He added that recently she was depressed over her financial situation as she had not been making enough from property deals to support herself. She had also moved several times. He said: 'I offered her a position working for me, but she turned me down, saying that she would rather try to make it on her own. Things were just too difficult for her - her son was a huge part of her life.' Labels: Old News
'We didn't want to disturb him'
Singapore  FOR two hours on Saturday night, a dead man was slumped at a table in a Clementi hawker centre. But hawkers and customers were oblivious to it as they continued cooking or eating. They thought he was either drunk or asleep because they were used to seeing him in that state. But when several people later tried to wake Mr Feng Han Teng, 65, he did not respond. Paramedics pronounced him dead at 11.45pm. A drinks stall hawker, who gave her name only as Madam Koh, told The New Paper that Mr Feng was a familiar face at the hawker centre. She said: 'He used to order beer from my stall and food from others. But in recent months, he stopped drinking beer and ordered only soft drinks.' She said she saw Mr Feng on Saturday at around 8pm, when he ordered a can of soft drink from her. After finishing it, he left about an hour later. She said: 'I saw him struggling to walk. He stopped by another table and tried to balance himself.' Mr Feng then walked around the corner and sat down at a table. He used his hand to prop up his head. SLUMPED Other hawkers later saw him with his head slumped over the table. One of them was Mr Ong, who runs a western food stall. Mr Feng Han Teng He said: 'We often saw him in that position, after he had had some beer. We didn't want to disturb him so we just left him alone. We were shocked to learn later that he was dead.' Mr Feng lived in a flat at Block 367, Clementi Avenue 2 with a friend, Mr Xu Qing Fa, 54. He told Shin Min Daily News at the mortuary yesterday morning that he last saw Mr Feng at around 7pm at their flat. Mr Feng was asleep when he left the flat. He found out about his friend's death only when the police went to the flat at around 1am yesterday. Mr Xu, a security guard, said Mr Feng was a retiree who was careful with his money. He said Mr Feng kept mostly to himself and rarely spoke about his family. He had also been complaining about pain from a suspected tumour in his waist area. Sometimes, Mr Feng would wake up in the middle of the night, crying loudly from the acute pain, said Mr Xu. He added that Mr Feng had a daughter who last visited him two weeks ago, together with her 4-year-old daughter. Mr Xu also said that Mr Feng, who was divorced around 10 years ago, used to live with his daughter. But they stopped doing so when she moved to Punggol. Now, he does not know how to contact her. He said: 'I hope she will contact me after she sees this report.' Mr Xu said he and some friends have pooled some money to pay for the funeral. Police have classified it as unnatural death. Labels: Old News
Another tree accident. This time we're lucky
 STOMP received several pictures of a large branch that had fallen off an old tree in Toa Payoh Central on Saturday morning (9 June). The fallen branch (on the right of the picture), blocked the left lane making it impassable to traffic. Both Irene Boey, 42, a marketing executive and Allan Chang, 41, an IT consultant,had the same thoughts in mind when they witnessed the indicent - it was sheer luck that the branch did not land on a motorist or pedestrian. Irene, who happened to be near the tree at the time of the accident was thankful she escaped any misfortune. "I heard a loud cracking sound and the branch fell onto the main road and not on the pathway where I was," a relieved Irene told STOMP. "It was really scary and came from nowhere as there were no strong winds at all." Irene says while NParks has explained it maintains the trees along roads, more should be done.  When Allan spoke to STOMP, he could not over-emphasise just how lucky everyone was that no one was hurt. His call if for all trees planted in older estates to be checked whether they look healthy or not. Allan's email to STOMP described what happened on Saturday. " On the morning of Saturday 9th June 2006, there was a loud bang sound like huge firecracker and the large branch of an old tree fell. This was along Toa Payoh Central near a bus stop outside Block 177. At different times of the day, this is a busy road will pedestrians and vehicles. This time, the tree still stands, nobody was hurt, no vehicle had any accident. The only inconvenience: the left lane of the road was not passable causing minor traffic jam. The trees around are all of similar age. The flats at the few Block 79s are still not occupied so there are less residents traffic. The next time another tree or branch fall, will we be so fortunate again?" Labels: Nature
Hydrogen gas trailer flips
 General Manager Mr Khin M M, 59, was extremely concerned when he saw this trailer lying sideways at Jalan Boon Lay towards Jurong Island this morning (10 June) at 8.20am. Alarm bells started ringing when he passed by the same area one hour later at 9.20am to find that the trailer was still unmoved. The driver was nowhere in sight. Mr Khin who works in the engineering industry recognized the red cylinders in the trailer as containing hydrogen gas, making the vehicle highly flammable. He said he did not witness how the trailer collapsed but was relieved that no explosion occurred. STOMP confirmed with the SCDF that the trailer was indeed transporting 12 cylinders containing hydrogen gas. According the SCDF incident log, the SCDF received a call at 8.11am and arrived at the scene at 8.15am. A fire engine was sent to check if there were any leakages. None was detected. The owner company of the trailer then sent two cranes to upright it, and a tow-truck brought it back to company’s site. The trailer has been removed, and the driver of the trailer was reported to be have suffered minor injuries but was not taken to hospital. Police say the clear for the road was given at 11am and it was opened to motorists after that. Labels: Misadventure
Mystery of the 'popping' floor tiles
 NTU student Shawn Huang was working in the laboratory with his friends when they encountered a strange phenomenon - floor tiles that suddenly started popping up and rupturing. This occurred yesterday (5 June) at about 2.30pm.This is Shawn's account of what happened:"This incident happened around 2.30pm today where my group of friends are in the lab doing our project. Two of my friends are chatting when they heard sizzling sound from the ground.  They decided to check the sound out when the tiles just shoot up like plates rupturing. We were so amazed by what's going on and keep staring at the crack for a while before it stops popping.  "Shawn could find no answers to this mystery, but speculated that it might be due to natural factors."What we learn from the lab technicians that this incident has been going on for the past few years yet there is no explanation to what has happened. i think this is the closest we can get to something like an earthquake happening. but we think that the heaty weather plays a part in what happened." Labels: Nature
The HomeGrounds
 SGFreakyLinks is not another average Paranormal Investigation Team which locates another haunted location, investigate what's going down, and then give their opinion of why the place is haunted. As always, our SGFreakyLinks team is determined to uncover the truth behind the strange and the unusual. To answer the questions that have no answers, go beyond what our eyes can see and take you with us. ...more Trackers Research of Anomalous Phenomena (T.R.A.P.) is a special interest group on the paranormal based in Singapore, that extends its membership locally and internationally via the World Wide Web. Our membership consists of everyday people with a common set of goals. A BELIEVER OR NOT, TRUE OR FALSE, LET YOU THE PUBLIC DECIDE, IN A JOURNEY OF TRACKING THE UNKNOWN. ...more
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What About
The blog and podcast is dedicate to cover a diverse range of topics from the phenomena, drowns, misadventure and the unsolved to ancient mysteries of the Singapore. Before it is gone from both memories and origin sites, we have compile to put it here. Forgotten Sidewalk, is an in-conjunction project, a combinations of both authors DeathScythe and Sakeraz shows diverse subject matter and sensible yet open minded approach. This combinations chemistries is indeed unique and different from what you may see before. Current is 2007, Exactly 06 months after the unbelievable 06.06.06... both authors armed with a huge passion and contributions, will set Forgotten Sidewalk to expand and deliver dynamite content for years to come.
SLIDE & SMASH
Boy is flung out of slide and hits pole. Second swimming pool incident in 2 days WITH the school holidays on, Putera Mohd Azahar was looking forward to a trip to the swimming pool.  WITH the school holidays on, Putera Mohd Azahar was looking forward to a trip to the swimming pool.But what was supposed to be a fun day at the pool turned into a painful and bloody experience for the 11-year-old. His parents took him and his two younger sisters to the Yio Chu Kang Swimming Complex at around 5.30pm on Sunday. Putera also has two older siblings. The pool was crowded, but the children had a go at the 2m-high water slide in the children's pool several times. Their father, Mr Mohd Hisham Sapandi, 38, waited for them at the bottom of the slide to catch them as they came down. On Putera's fourth time down the slide, Mr Hisham watched in horror as the boy flew out of the slide. His face slammed into a metal pole near the slide before he fell into the water. He began bleeding profusely from the mouth and chin. Mr Mohd Hisham, who was about 1.5m away, rushed to his son and got him out of the water. He said: 'There was so much blood on his face and body. I quickly cupped his jaw to prevent him from moving it. I was afraid he had broken his jaw.' This was the second swimming pool incident in two days. On Saturday, 6-year-old Anna Lim drowned in a Sentosa hotel pool. Mr Mohd Hisham, an odd-job labourer, said he wasn't sure what to do next. There was an attendant whom he took to be a lifeguard nearby, but she did nothing to help, he claimed. TISSUE PAPER A woman sitting nearby rushed to pass him some tissue paper. 'After a while, I heard another woman shout to the attendant to do something,' said Mr Mohd Hisham. He claimed the attendant walked towards his son, took a look at him and walked away. 'She looked inexperienced and didn't do anything to help,' he added.  Minutes later, a senior lifeguard came and told them to go with him into an office.There, he tried to stem the bleeding and clean the wounds. Mr Hisham said he asked for an ambulance, but the lifeguard said there was no need for one as the injury was minor. 'He said the injury was not serious, and it would heal by itself. He said if I wanted to, I could take my son to a clinic,' claimed Mr Hisham. But Mr Hisham wasn't convinced. He said: 'I knew Putera was quite badly injured, so I wanted to take him to the hospital.' The family walked about 500m to the main road, with Mr Hisham supporting Putera, and caught a cab to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. Although it was quite an ordeal for Putera, he didn't cry. Said Mr Mohd Hisham: 'Luckily I happened to have just enough money in my pocket to take the taxi.' At the hospital, Putera was sedated and given six stitches inside his mouth and another four on the outside. He was found to have multiple lacerations on his face and lower lip. One of his teeth is also slightly chipped. However, an X-ray showed he didn't break any bones and he was allowed to go home later that night. Putera, who can't eat or talk properly now, said he remembers flying off the slide. He told his parents he was scared of going on the slide again. Mr Mohd Hisham and his family want answers. Why didn't the lifeguards do more to help? Why didn't they offer to call a taxi? Mr Mohd Hisham, who earns less than $1,000 a month, said: 'I don't earn very much. I took them swimming because it was something I could afford.' Entry to public swimming pools costs 50 cents to $2 per person. 'Now, I've to think about the medical bills too,' said Mr Mohd Hisham. Labels: Misadventure
Cake smashed, aunty dead
SHE was on her way to her sister's house to celebrate her niece's first birthday. Madam Salimah Ithnin was in the back seat of this Nissan Sunny when it crashed. In the car with Madam Salimah Ithnin, 40, her mother, sister and brother-in-law, was the cake they had bought for the little girl. But they never made it to the party. Their car collided with an oncoming car on Saturday at 8.15pm, at the junction of Mandai and Mandai Lake roads. Madam Salimah suffered serious head injuries and died at the National University Hospital (NUH) about three hours later, reported Shin Min Daily News. Another female passenger, who was sitting next to her in the backseat, suffered multiple fractures and was in intensive care at NUH. The eight people in the other vehicle, a Malaysian-registered Volvo SUV, suffered minor injuries. All 12 were taken to hospital in four ambulances. Madam Salimah's sister and brother-in-law had planned a celebration for their daughter's first birthday at their Jurong home that day. The couple, both 30, drove their Nissan Sunny to Madam Salimah flat in Jurong to fetch her and her mother to the party. According to the sister's mother-in-law, they left the house at about 7pm. MUM HAD COOKED UP FEAST The 49-year-old housewife told Shin Min Daily: 'My son said that besides picking them up, he would also buy a birthday cake on the way, so they would be back at 8:30pm. 'I had already cooked a feast and was waiting for them.' The children who were in the Malaysian-registered car were slightly hurt. Instead, she received a phone call with news of the terrible crash. 'My daughter-in-law kept crying over the phone,' she said. She told Lianhe Wanbao: 'They had already bought a cake, the house was all decorated.  'Now, (Madam Salimah) won't have the chance to celebrate birthdays with her nieces and nephews again.'She added that Madam Salimah had quit her job several years ago to look after her 66-year-old mother, who suffers from arthritis and other ailments. She said that Madam Salimah's mother's arm was seriously injured and needed surgery. She was taken straight to the operating theatre after the accident, so she does not know that her daughter was dead. Said mother-in-law: 'We still don't dare to tell her.' She added that her son suffered a broken leg, while Madam Salimah's sister had minor injuries. The driver of the SUV, a 45-year-old bank employee, told reporters that he took his family to Singapore to visit the Night Safari that night. The family, who is from Johor, was planning to go to Sentosa yesterday. His wife and five children, aged between 5 and 17, and his brother-in-law were also in the car when the accident took place. He said that the family does not have close friends in Singapore, so they will cut their trip short and return to Malaysia in taxis.  He said: 'Our car was destroyed, but my family suffered minor injures, so I am thankful for that.'When Shin Min Daily News visited the accident site, the two crumpled vehicles were still there. There was broken glass all over the road. Blood stains were still visible on the ground. Lying on the grass just metres from the Nissan Sunny, still in its plastic bag, was the squashed birthday cake. Labels: Misadventure
Pool had 2 lifeguards on duty at the time
ANNA was rescued from the swimming pool by a hotel guest, who immediately alerted one of the hotel's lifeguards. She was already unconscious. This happened at 5.11pm on Saturday, said a Rasa Sentosa Resort spokesman. 'Immediate resuscitation measures were administered by the lifeguards together with a few guests who identified themselves as qualified medical practitioners,' said the spokesman. She said that an ambulance arrived within 15 minutes and took Anna to the nearest hospital. The spokesman said the part of the pool where Anna was found is 1.3m deep. She said there are always two lifeguards on duty. The spokesman said that Anna and her parents were at Siloso Beach before the incident. 'It is unclear how the child wandered into the premises of the hotel unaccompanied, as the family was not a resident of the hotel,' said the spokesman. 'Despite the unfortunate tragedy, we re-assure that the hotel provides all safety and security measures to its guests.' Labels: Drown
S'pore PR killed by falling branch at MacRitchie. Witness says:
There was blood all over the place AS they trekked along the MacRitchie nature walk in heavy rain and strong winds, Mr Nguyen Ngoc Quang forged ahead.  The next moment, he was lying on the ground, bleeding from his head. A falling tree branch had landed on his head, knocking him to the ground, soon after he and his group completed the HSBC TreeTop Walk. The software engineer, 26, died soon after at the scene. His younger brother, who wanted to be known only as Mr Nguyen, told The New Paper that everything had happened so fast that he didn't even see how the tree branch had struck his brother. The Nguyens, originally from Vietnam, are permanent residents here. The brother, a student at Nanyang Technological University, said he and his brother were on the MacRitchie trail with three others, including his brother's girlfriend. Mr Nguyen, 24, said: 'My brother was walking in front of me at that time. 'The next thing I knew, he was lying on the ground unconscious and bleeding profusely from the head.' He called the police immediately on his handphone. Park rangers were notified around 1.45pm and two of them rushed to the scene. Mr Nguyen declined to give more details about the incident and his brother's background. A person who was at the scene told The New Paper that the situation was chaotic. The woman, who declined to be identified, said: 'The friends were frantic and there was blood all over the place. 'I could see one man was injured and lying on the ground. The four friends who were with him were not hurt.' The New Paper understands that Mr Nguyen was still breathing when the park rangers arrived to render first-aid. He was pronounced dead at 2.30pm. The incident took place on the Petaling Trail that leads from the TreeTop Walk. It is part of the long hiking routes in MacRitchie Nature Reserve. This is the fourth fatal accident in which Singaporeans or permanent residents were killed by falling trees or branches. Dr Leong Chee Chiew, chief operating officer of National Parks Board (NParks), said it was raining heavily with a strong wind at the time. He said in a press statement: 'It is the National Parks' standard practice to close the gate to the TreeTop Walk during bad weather. 'In this case, the gate (to the TreeTop Walk) was closed when it started to drizzle, but unfortunately, the group involved in the incident had already passed through.' Dr Leong added that the branch that had killed Mr Nguyen is from a big forest tree, known as Litsea. The tree is about 30m tall. At press time, NParks could not confirm the size of the branch that killed Mr Nguyen. 'We are very saddened by the incident and wish to convey our condolences to the family of the deceased,' said Dr Leong. Around 5pm, the younger Mr Nguyen and his friends, were brought to the ranger station about 500m from the start of the TreeTop Walk. The girlfriend appeared shaken and was crying. She was too distraught to speak to reporters. They sat on one side and conversed with each other in Vietnamese. Soon after, 10 of Mr Nguyen's friends arrived at the ranger station. They were seen comforting MrNguyen and his brother's girlfriend in Vietnamese. The group waited for Mr Nguyen's body to be brought to the ranger station. At about 6pm, some of MrNguyen's friends got impatient and started asking the park rangers why it was taking so long for the body to be brought down. Eight of them then decided to trek in to help bring the body out. The New Paper followed them, but was stopped from going any further at the start of the TreeTop Walk. About half an hour later, together with the undertakers, they helped to carry their friend's body out to the ranger station where it was taken away in a vehicle. Despite the rain yesterday afternoon, there were still trekkers in the nature reserve. One of them was Madam Latifah, 35, a teacher, who was with 17 relatives.  She had reached the TreeTop Walk around 2pm, after an hour's trek, but was told by the rangers to turn back. Madam Latifah, who later called The New Paper Hotline, said: 'I was told that an accident had happened inside the walk.' It was Madam Latifah's first time trekking at the nature reserve. She said: 'It was drizzling at that time and we heard thunder. But the children were enjoying walking in the rain.' NParks said it will be conducting further checks on the safety of the area. The TreeTop Walk will be closed to the public until 9 Jun. It also reminded the public to exercise caution when walking in forested areas during bad weather. Labels: Misadventure
Singaporeans killed by trees
THREE Singaporeans were killed by falling trees within a week last month. Two of the incidents occurred on the same day and within two hours of each other. And two of the deaths were in separate incidents on Mount Ophir (Gunung Ledang), Johor. In the first accident on 15 May, trainee teacher Mohamad Rohaizam Tumadi, 26, was killed when a tree broke in half and fell on him at about 5am while he was asleep in a tent. He was one of 58 physical education trainee teachers and lecturers from the National Institute of Education attending a three-day camp at Mount Ophir. Mr Rohaizam was sleeping in the tent with three classmates who all escaped unhurt. CRUSHED Barely two hours later, dental assistant Ho Siew Lan , 42, was killed while taking her daily morning walk at Bukit Batok Nature Park. Madam Ho was with several others taking their morning exercise when it began to rain. The women were just about to leave the park when they were struck by the tree. Two of the women were injured, and Madam Ho was crushed and her body pinned under the tree. On 19 May, auxiliary police officer Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid, 47, was scaling Mount Ophir with a group of 12, including eight colleagues, when a storm began. While resting in a tent, a tree fell, severely injuring him. Park rangers pulled him from under the branches and his buddies took turns carrying him down the slope. But he was pronounced dead early on 20 May, when they finally found medical help. Labels: Misadventure
Full Moon Miracle On Vesak Day
 P Wong captured this beautiful shot of a full moon on Vesak Day, which seemed to emphasize the miracle of the religious holiday. Taken from his apartment at Thomson Road, the black and white shot seemed to have ironically intensified the brilliance of the full moon as it majestically looked upon the land below from the Eastern direction. In the background was the Airport on the left corner while Suntec City sat serenely on the right. In the foreground was the busy Upper Thomson Road, which will be named Thomson Village, with all the good food outlets. A full moon day holds a special significance among Buddhists because certain important events associated with the life of Lord Buddha took place on full moon days. Full moon days had marked His birth, His renunciation, His Enlightenment and the delivery of His first sermon. His passing away into Nirvana and many other important events associated with His eighty years of life also occurred on full moon days. Labels: Phenomena |
