Daughter dead, son missing ; One family's double sorrow - Singapore's Online Community

**pacingalong** · 14-09-2007, 06:51 PM

Daughter dead, son missing

BUS driver Ng Ah Tee, 59, leant over his daughter lying in the intensive care unit of the Singapore General Hospital's burns unit.
'Be strong, don't give up,' he whispered to the fire victim, in Mandarin.

The only response came from her beeping heart monitor. Then, at 6.20pm yesterday, that too went silent.

It now seems that 27-year-old Miss Ng Lay Hua's death is the second in one day for her family.

Her brother, Mr Ng Yong Soon, 25, a shop assistant, had also run down from their third-storey HDB flat when the fire started in the shops at the bottom of Block 863 at Hougang Avenue 8.

Police are trying to identify the badly burnt body of a man found at the foot of the staircase between two burning shop units.

DNA samples were taken from Mr Ng Ah Tee and his wife in an attempt to establish the dead man's identity.

When the fire broke out at around 1.30am yesterday, neighbours banged on doors and a taxi driver at the carpark blared his horn to raise the alarm. Damp towels over their faces, and clutching the few personal items they could grab, residents scurried to the bottom of the block.

Firefighters arrived within four minutes and got the fire under control in 15. But by then, the blaze had gutted three shophouse units - a provision shop, a grocery shop and a photo-developing shop.

Miss Ng was seen staggering about in the nearby carpark. She was taken to hospital unconscious.

An MP for the area, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, and town council officials visited the scene and the Ng family in hospital. HDB has offered four flats in the area as temporary shelter, but affected residents were able to return to their homes and power was restored around 2pm.

Mr Ng said he and a few neighbours had complained before about the fire hazard posed by shops storing their stocks along walkways.

Mr Yeo said shops in the area had been briefed and meetings held since April to get them to comply with fire safety rules, which include not allowing goods to be placed outside shops, and given up to Oct 1 to comply.

Aljunied Town Council says as early as Aug 31 a stern warning was served on a shop for flouting the rules.

Mr Ng told The Straits Times his daughter woke the family when the blaze started. But while Mr Ng and his wife ran down a staircase to safety, Ms Ng and her brother had headed in the opposite direction - towards the shops and into the heart of the fire.

Said Mr Ng: 'If my son can come to me now, it will really be a miracle.'

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One family's double sorrow

Siblings took wrong staircase, leading them smack into the fire
By Carolyn Quek &Tracy Sua

RELATIVES and friends turned up and consoled the distraught couple at around 7.30pm yesterday, at their Hougang Avenue 8 flat.
But 59-year-old bus captain Ng Ah Tee could only mutter 'Both are gone' to a neighbour.

He was referring to his daughter, Ng Lay Hua, and son, Ng Yong Soon.

Ms Ng, a 27-year-old clerk, had suffered 90 per cent burns in yesterday's 1.30am blaze which broke out at Block 683 - the block where she lived with her parents and younger brother Yong Soon, 25, a shop assistant, for more than 10 years.

Ms Ng died from her injuries at the Singapore General Hospital's burns unit yesterday at about 6.20pm.

As for the younger Mr Ng, he is still missing, but relatives and friends believe the charred body of a man in his mid-20s - found at the foot of the block's badly burnt shophouse yesterday - is his.

VIDEO

Hougang fire feared to have killed 2 siblings
(3:52)
The man's body was so badly burnt that a DNA test is being used to identify him. The results will be known in one or two days' time.

The elder Mr Ng recounted how the two siblings had ended up taking the staircase nearest their home to escape.

This staircase, however, was right smack in the middle of the blaze.

Mr Ng and his wife had fled in the other direction, to a staircase further away.

A neighbour, Mr Zakirudeen Naziruthaen, 36, said he was watching a TV programme when he heard loud banging.

He looked out of his kitchen window and saw a man on the ground floor shouting, 'Fire! Fire!'

He woke his wife and two children and got them to safety before going from door to door to alert other neighbours.

Upon reaching the carpark just below his block, he saw a badly burnt woman lying there. He later learnt that she was Ms Ng.

'Her arms were outstretched and she was moaning in pain. Her hair was gone, eyes were red, and entire body was badly burnt,' said Mr Zakirudeen.

Another neighbour, Mrs Chua Yam Chuan, recounted that 'the fire was very, very big'.

'It was like a nightmare,' the 50-year-old hawker said.

The flames leapt at her and her husband when they tried to open the main door.

But they managed to get to safety by placing damp towels over their heads.

She then broke down in tears.

'How could this happen? Two lives lost within 24 hours,' she said.

She said the Ngs were a close-knit family.

While Mr and Mrs Ng were too distraught to speak last night, Mr Ng earlier told The Straits Times how much their children meant to them.

They were filial, never failing to set aside money for the home every month.

Both siblings would often buy snacks and dinner for the family.

'I like to see my children every day, and if I don't see them I will miss them very much,' said Mr Ng.

'On weekends, I would buy their favourite food from the nearby market. Now I don't know what I am going to do without them,' he added.

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ahh really sad . they ran towards the wrong escape route . the man was so badly charred that they had to use DNA to identify him . therefore was classified under missing . sighs .

tragedy .