Strange, I tried to post the link below yesterday, but was not
shown out...
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_137113.html?vgnmr=1
July 9, 2007
TAIWAN MILITARY JET CRASH
4th victim walks out of hospital after 60 days
He has to wear special garments 23 hours a day to prevent
scarring
By Teh Joo Lin
AFTER almost 60 days spent 'walking the line' between life and
death, Third Sergeant Karthigayan Ramakrishnan took his first shaky
steps out of hospital yesterday. When he stumbled from the flames
after a Taiwan fighter jet crashed into the storeroom he was in two
months ago, burns covered 45 per cent of his body.
His chances of pulling through looked slim. In fact, doctors gave
him a one-in-three chance of pulling through, his father
said.
But he clawed his way back, and is on his way to a full
recovery.
The 23-year-old is the only serious casualty to have lived through
the May 11 crash.
That morning, a Taiwan F-5F fighter jet had slammed into a camp
store on the island, killing both Taiwanese pilots. Also killed on
the spot were two Singaporean soldiers, Third Sergeant Isz Sazli
Sapari, 19, and Private Fan Yao Jin, 23.
3rd Sgt Karthigayan and 19-year-old Lance Corporal Calvin Chow Han
Min were taken to hospital there and airlifted back the following
day.
But Lance Cpl Chow died more than two weeks later.
Seven other Singaporean soldiers who suffered minor injuries
returned to service after the incident.
Doctors have told 3rd Sgt Karthigayan that the recovery process
could take up to two years.
But Karthick, as he is known to family and friends, is happy just
to get his life back.
'I'm going to take it one day at a time. From now on, life is going
to change... but definitely for the better,' he told The Straits
Times at his Ang Mo Kio flat.
His body is wrapped tightly in compression garments - which he has
to wear 23 hours a day to reduce scarring - and every movement is
slow and careful.
But his burn-reddened face often breaks into a broad smile, as he
talks and jokes with family members and friends.
Recounting the incident, he said that he had been wearing a T-shirt
and shorts at the time, and was badly burnt on his arms and
legs.
Despite this, he managed to leap through the flaming storeroom
door. He lost consciousness thinking he had not been badly
injured.
He was to wake up six weeks later to learn of his brush with
death.
His father, Mr J. Ramakrishnan, said that doctors at the Singapore
General Hospital's burns unit fought to save him - performing a
dozen operations including multiple skin grafts.
Mr Ramakrishnan, 48, added that during the initial stages, his son
had struggled against a prolonged high fever and lung infections,
and that his heart at one point was functioning like a 50-year-old
man's.
'When he first came back, his head was two-and-a-half times its
normal size,' said the former employee of a security agency, who
quit his job to stay by his son's bedside, with Karthick's mother,
19-year-old brother,and grandparents.
Finally, 3rd Sgt Karthigayan opened his eyes.
'Suddenly, I realised I was in hospital. I felt pain and
soreness... and very thirsty. That was when I knew I was really
awake and not hallucinating,' he said.
He asked for, and got, his first drink in six weeks - carrot juice
frozen into ice cubes. He could not swallow liquids because of all
the tubes running down his throat.
From that point, he didn't look back.
He put this down to the care, well wishes and support showered on
him by family members, friends, members of the Singapore Armed
Forces, staff at the burns unit and members of a burns support
group.
'A lot of them were keeping vigil... I was unconscious but I could
actually sense that they were there with me,' he said.
Even strangers approached the family with words of
encouragement.
'I don't know how I can thank all of them,' he added.
'I couldn't give up the fight, not with so many of them supporting
me,' he said, his face lighting up once again.
THANKFUL TO BE ALIVE: 3rd Sgt Karthigayan (left) said the support
of his friends and family, like his brother R. Pathmaganesha,
father J. Ramakrishnan, aunt R. Surya (in white) and grandmother J.
Yasodha, kept him going. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA
'I felt I was melting'
THIRD Sergeant Karthigayan Ramakrishnan was drawing some stores
when he heard what sounded like an artillery shell exploding.
He sensed vibrations.
Two seconds later, the entire storeroom morphed into a raging
'furnace'.
'It wasn't a slowly growing fire... it was a freak fire. I felt I
was in a war zone,' he recalled.
As flames burst across the entire room, the heat shot up.
It was 'so intense', the infantry section commander felt he was
'melting'.
'I felt I was being bitten away. I had the feeling I was not going
to die, but I had to get out,' he added.
He was less than 10m from the door. Although the shutters were up,
the flames blocked his route to safety.
He shielded his face and dashed madly for the flaming exit.
'I counted 'one thousand, two thousand', then I jumped through the
door and fell outside,' he said.
He landed flat on the gravel, his glasses flying off his
nose.
His comrades found him there and took him, still conscious, to the
medical centre nearby, before he was rushed to hospital.
At the time, he did not know he was seriously hurt. He even joked
with the Taiwanese doctors in the hospital.
'A couple of times, I asked for a phone to call my mother to tell
her I was okay.
'I felt pain, but my willpower was there,' he added.
He later slipped into unconsciousness, waking up only about six
weeks later.
