On 25 Aug, a 46-year-old woman tragically lost her life in an accident involving a bus along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.
While the bus driver was arrested for careless driving, it cannot replace the life that was lost.
The woman’s children had to come down to Singapore from Malaysia for the funeral, borrowing money from relatives to pay for the quarantine expenses.
Shin Min Daily News reports that the woman, Guo Mingju (transliterated from Chinese), hailed from Malaysia and was working in Singapore.
She met with an accident on the morning of 25 Aug while on her way to work in Sembawang.
Ms Guo hadn’t seen her 2 children, Huang Shijun (23) and Huang Peiyan (19), for 2 years due to the pandemic and their work.
The siblings, who were in Malaysia then, told Shin Min Daily News that they could hardly believe the news when they first heard about it at 10am on 25 Aug.
They even thought it was fake news.
But after taking 2 hours to calm down, Mr Huang came to terms with the facts and proceeded to contact his aunt for assistance to travel down to Singapore from Perak.
As they didn’t have much in the way of savings, the siblings had to borrow $6,000 from relatives to cover the costs of Stay-Home Notice (SHN) when they arrived in Singapore.
On 29 Aug, the siblings received permission from the authorities to go out for 6 hours to take care of funeral matters.
Within this short time, they stopped by the funeral home at Sin Ming and she was cremated the same night.
The siblings also visited the accident scene to perform rituals, cutting a forlorn sight in the drizzle.
The siblings told Shin Min Daily News that their mum was working hard to support the family, and the family of 3 depended on each other.
Both children have entered the workforce to ease the burden on their mum.
However, they never expected such a tragedy to occur.
“Because Mum was busy working, we rarely went on holidays together. She said last year that when the pandemic is over, that we’d go to an island to have fun,” they said.
As Ms Guo feared losing her job, she didn’t dare to take long vacations and would only return home twice a year — leaving the family with little time spent together.
Mr Huang said that the last contact with his mum was on 11 Aug, when she asked him to settle some bills.
Ms Guo had planned to buy a house in Malaysia in future, so the 3 of them could be reunited. She’d even revealed to Mr Huang this year that she was saving money for the house’s down payment.
Choking up in tears, Mr Huang said,
She’s worked so hard… I just want her to come back.
Unfortunately, the various costs involved have left the siblings in a predicament, leaving them feeling overwhelmed.
As they were on SHN and given special permission to leave, they had to be picked up and ferried around using a special service that cost almost $400 in total.
SHN also cost both siblings a total of $3,400, and there are funeral expenses and accommodation costs to settle as well.
Both of them do not earn much, and after conversion, the costs add up to RM18,600, which is far beyond their means.
Not only that, but when the siblings return to Malaysia, they will have to be quarantined again, raising fears of losing their jobs.
Behind a fatal accident is not only a lost life but also the family they leave behind.
It is truly painful to hear that the siblings have had to settle their mum’s affairs all on their own, and in a different country as well.
MS News offer our condolences to the deceased’s family and we hope that she may rest in peace.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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