39-year-old man sets fire to Ang Mo Kio flat before
falling to his death
A 39-year-old Chinese man is believed to have set fire to his
flat last night before falling to his death.
And his two children were also found dead in their flat at Block
543 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force or SCDF received a call at around
9.50pm last night (07/11) about the fire, which had broken out at a
6th floor unit.
Upon their arrival, SCDF firefighters saw black smoke coming out of
the unit.
They had to force their way into the flat to put out the
fire.
When they conducted a search within the unit, they found a
5-year-old Chinese boy and a three-year-old Chinese girl inside one
of the bedrooms.
The boy, Savier Ng Wei Yi, and the girl, Cheryl Ng Shi Hui, had no
pulse and were not breathing.
SCDF officers immediately performed CPR, but they were unable to
revive the two children.
They were pronounced dead shortly after.
A resident who stays on the 11th floor and only wanted to be known
as Mr Ng, said he went one floor up to alert his neighbours of the
fire.
That's when he found a man lying on a narrow parapet on the
floor.
Mr Ng said he asked the man to get down, but his warnings were
ignored.
"I heard a lot of people screaming and with a loud "bang", I saw a
lot of tiles falling on the ground. I walked out and saw the man
from the 12th floor, lying on the ground."
Another neighbour, Lee Haw Nam, said he saw the police and SCDF
officers trying to persuade the man to come down from the parapet
shortly before his death.
"When he (fell), we saw a few figures trying to, leaning over the
concrete to pull him up. But it was too late."
The man, identified as Ng Chee Kiang, was rushed to Tan Tock Seng
Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12.46am.
Neighbours interviewed by MediaCorp were shocked by the death of Ng
and his two children.
Many described Ng as a friendly man.
But some suspected that he could have been facing personal
problems.
Resident Abdul Manaf said he saw paint splashed on Ng's door on two
occasions.
"In front of the door you can see the paint. From the loanshark,
big words saying "pay me my money". Then don't know what Chinese
dirty words."
Another neighbour, Ms Tan, said the deceased and his wife were
having marital problems.
"I only know that they were about to get a divorce. I would see the
husband drinking every day at a nearby coffeeshop."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
--938Live
