IT WAS a heart-breaking choice.
One on side was his 10-year-old nephew. On the other side was the boy's 45-year-old father.

As both father and son desperately struggled for their lives in the waters off East Coast Park yesterday afternoon, their potential rescuer, Mr Abdul Kader, 61, was faced with an agonising dilemma: he could save only one of them.

With a heavy heart, he had to let go of his brother-in-law, Mr Mohamed Ayoob, and watched him disappear beneath the swirling waters.

Then he brought his nephew, Mohamed Muneer, safely to shore.

He had hoped his brother-in-law would resurface, but it was not to be.

Mr Ayoob's body was found about two hours later.

Mr Abdul and 13 other family members were at a family outing at the park when tragedy struck.


SLIPPED


Muneer and his father had gone for a walk on a breakwater parallel to the beach, when suddenly, the boy slipped and fell into the water. His father jumped in to save him.

Mr Abdul heard their cries for help, so he too jumped into the water, along with a relative.

'When I reached them, my nephew clung to me on my front, and Ayoob tried to hang on to me too, but all three of us were sinking because we were too heavy and I was too tired.

'I had to let him go. I had to push Ayoob away before we could keep afloat again. Ayoob then disappeared into the water, and my son-in-law kept shouting for him even though we couldn't see him any more,' said Mr Abdul.

According to him, father and son were walking on the 2m-wide breakwater when Muneer slipped and fell into the water.

'Ayoob, who's not a good swimmer, jumped in and tried to save his son.

'But he too began to experience difficulty keeping both himself and his son afloat, and started shouting for help,' said Mr Abdul.

CRIES FOR HELP


Their cries for help were heard by Mr Abdul, other relatives and passers-by on the beach.

'Two people nearby with surfboards and one person with a life-saving ring came to pull us back to shore,' said Mr Abdul.

Witnesses told The New Paper that the waters were dangerous as the tide was coming in and the undercurrents were strong.

One witness, who wanted to be known only as Mr Johari, said: 'The whole incident was very chaotic. The wife of the victim ran around screaming for help, that's when we saw four people in the water struggling.

'One man quickly grabbed a life-saving ring while another helped to unreel the rope tied to it.

'By the time the man swam to them with the ring, the four had already drifted about 20m to 30m from the breakwater.'

Mr Johari, 46, said he realised that one man was missing. So he and a few other people went into the water to try and find him.

'By then, the water level between the shore and the breakwater had already reached above the neck.

'I swam out to the breakwater, hoping that I could spot him,' he said.

Mr Johari's wife, who declined to be named, said there didn't seem to be much anyone could have done.

'The beach was crowded, but most of us couldn't do anything. Nobody seemed to know what to do and how to react and that's the sorry part.'


SEARCH OPERATION


When The New Paper arrived at the scene, in front of the Costa Sands Resort, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers were conducting a search operation.

Mr Mohamed Ayoob's wife was crying and staring out to sea, while being comforted by relatives.

Muneer appeared calm and was sitting with his brother, Abdul Fatteh, 11, at a park gazebo. When approached, he merely told The New Paper sadly: 'My father tried to rescue me.'

Later, a boy in his late teens, believed to be Muneer's eldest brother, arrived to join the family.

SCDF officers said they were at the scene at 3.15pm, seven minutes after they received a call about the incident.

An SCDF spokesman said: 'Three DART personnel were deployed to conduct surface and underwater search for the victim and spotted the body in the water.

Around 4.40pm the SCDF officers finally pulled out Mr Mohamed Ayoob.

On seeing his lifeless body being brought to shore on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, Mr Mohamed Ayoob's wife burst into tears and fainted.


PRONOUNCED DEAD


SCDF officers later had to take her away on a stretcher in another ambulance.

Police confirmed that the victim's body was taken to Changi General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Don't approach drowning victim from front

SO what can you do if someone is drowning?

Ideally, you should get help from someone who is trained in life-saving skills.

But if no such person is present, there are several do's and don'ts, trained lifeguard Kason Ong, 40, told The New Paper.

'Never approach a drowning victim from the front because the victim is panicking and will grab anything he can get hold of, like your neck, and will not let go,' he said.

'Also, if you're in front of him and you're shouting instructions to him, he will not hear anything.'

Mr Ong said it's better to approach a drowning victim from the back.

'Hold him up and shout to him to keep calm.

'Tell him you'll take him back to shore in order to calm him down.

'Another option if you're not trained is to find a floating device or even a tree branch for the victim to hold onto and pull him in.'