Monday, July 06, 2009
Loss of An Old Friend
On Friday, 3 July at 1:07pm while everyone is either busy at work or doing some other things of their own, a friend whom I knew long ago passed away at Changi General Hospital.
By now, I guess many would have know that an NSF man died after a Land Rover rolled over him. And sad to say the NSF man is someone that I know.
For those who don't know, please read the articles below:
NSF officer dies after Land Rover rolls over him
4 July 2009
Second Lieutenant (2LT) Chan Wei Kit Nicholas was found pinned under a Land Rover in Seletar Camp this morning.
He was inspecting the vehicle when it rolled backwards and hit him.
A recovery vehicle was activated to lift the Land Rover, and a medical team comprising an SAF doctor and two medics from the Seletar Medical Centre attempted to resuscitate 2LT Chan immediately, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).
2LT Chan was then sent to the Changi General Hospital (CGH).
The SAF doctor and medics continued their attempts to resuscitate him en route to the hospital.
2LT Chan was pronounced dead at 1.07pm at CGH.
2LT Chan, a full-time National Serviceman (NSF), was a Motor Transport Officer. He was taking delivery of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Land Rover in Seletar Camp when the incident happened. The Land Rover had been sent there for servicing.
MINDEF and the SAF extend their deepest condolences to the family of the late 2LT Chan.
MINDEF will assist the family in their time of grief and is investigating the incident.
source: http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20090703-152620.html
Parents grieve death
Family has questions; Mindef says incident still being investigated
By Kimberly Spykerman
6 July 2009
HE WAS their only child. And the parents of Second Lieutenant Nicholas Chan Wei Kit, 21, are still unable to believe their son is gone after his sudden death last Friday afternoon at Seletar Camp, in which an army land rover rolled back, pinning him underneath.
A recovery vehicle was dispatched, although the Defence Ministry did not say how soon after the accident, to lift the vehicle off him. But 2LT Chan died in hospital of his injuries - a little more than an hour after he took over the vehicle.
His mother, a housewife, received a call at their flat in Bukit Batok, telling her that 'something had happened' to her son, and that he was in hospital. Together with her husband, an engineer, they rushed down. But by the time they got there, it was too late.
The family is still questioning what led to 2LT Chan's death. After all, he had been on military trips to Brunei and Taiwan, and had always returned safely.
His mother said she is still too distraught to probe much into the details of her son's death.
But one thing they want to know is whether any other military personnel were with their son at the time of the incident. The family said Mindef has told them that it cannot reveal this now as the matter is still under investigation.
What little they know is that 2LT Chan - a newly commissioned officer - was a Motor Transport Officer based in Jurong Camp. He had gone to the Seletar camp that day to collect the vehicle.
It is also not known if he was alone at the time but his mother said he could not have gone to collect the vehicle alone because he did not have a driving licence.
In between sobs, she said that her son would come back almost every night to the family home to have dinner before heading back to camp. She had been expecting him as usual last Friday evening - but he never showed up.
2LT Chan's cousins described him as a 'happy-go-lucky' and 'playful' person, with a keen eye for fashion. He had a passion for clothes, they said, and even chose to specialise in retail management as a student at Temasek Polytechnic.
Close friends also called him a 'cheeky and happy' man. Said his former Basic Military Training platoon mate Audi Khalid, 21: 'He was the life of the platoon.'
souce: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_399594.html
This piece of news really came as a shock to me.
At that time when he was prounced dead on Friday afternoon, I was probably still in bed sleeping to make up for going out the whole of Thursday night. Plus I didn't watch the news on Friday so I didn't knew that there was this incident and who was involved.
On Saturday night or should I say the midnight on Sunday, I received an sms from Bernice. My first reaction when I saw that was 'Har? Who passed away?' because the message was cut halfway so I was really shocked. When I saw that it was Nick Chan's wake I was really shocked cause I didn't know what happened. I guess I scared Queen who was beside me with my reaction.
Anyway, it was really a shock.
On Sunday evening, I met up with Nicholas Huang, Marie, Xinying, Shue Ting, Aloysius, Aaron, Nicholas Yang, Bernice and her boyfriend at West Mall.
Since it was dinner period we could only get places at Subway so we had no choice but to sit there and have our dinner.
After dinner, we headed off where the wake was. The guys took the bus while Aaron drove us girls there. Bernice headed off on her boyfriend's bike.
Throughout dinner and the journey, we were actually able to joke around and keep the mood light-hearted. However when we reached and saw the people gathering around it sort of became difficult to keep that up.
When we reached there were a lot of people gathered around because the prayer was going on and we could not pay our respects. Since that was the case we decided to go up to Nick's parents and greet them.
His parents are really nice people. Despite having loss their only son they were still strong and were able to have a conversation with us. After greeting his parents and explaining some things to Nick's mum we took a seat and waited for the prayer to end before offering a joss stick to Nick.
No matter how light-hearted the mood was I'm sure everyone is still somewhat still in their heart feeling sad over the loss of a friend whom we have not contacted since primary school graduation.
When we took our last look at him, he looked really peaceful. If we didn't know what had happened we would have thought that he was only sleeping just that the place was the coffin. But we can't forget the fact that we have lost him... forever.
The only thing that came into my mind when I looked at him the only memory that came into my mind was how he looked like when he was younger. Seriously if you were to ask me what was the only thing that I remember about him would be his baby face since our primary school days and his eyes. His eyes were so different that it makes him stand out among the everyone. However, we are not able to see his eyes ever again.
To us all, this is really a very funny way to meet up. We haven't seen Nick for years and the place that we finally see him is at his funeral. Isn't that very funny?
Being the only child in the family I can understand the grieve that his parents are going through. You wait for your son to come home for the regular dinner but the next thing you know, he will never be back.
Last night I couldn't really sleep. Whenever I close my eyes the image of Nick during his primary school days and him lying in the coffin would appear in my mind. Even now as I'm typing this the two images are flashing in my head.
Maybe it would take a while to forget, maybe it would always be there. No matter what, he will still deeply be missed.
Tomorrow would be his funeral but I won't be going. Hopefully the guys who would be there tomorrow would be able to send our final goodbyes to him.
The weather haven't been good these couple of days, the skies have been dark and gloomy. This is what we are feeling these couple of days. I guess tomorrow might be the worse day for us all.
No matter if you know Nick personally or not, I hope that all of you can pray for him.
Nick, no matter what you will always be the Nick Chan that I know since primary school. Although we were not really close and we only shared the same class for two years but you will always be one of the three Nicholas that I ever knew since primary school. You will always be the baby face and fair boy that is also being mischievous in class.
RIP our dear friend.
Chan Wei Kit Nicholas
1987-2009
6:17 PM