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