Toddler’s Death From Incident At Urban Revivo Jewel Changi Was A Misadventure, According To The Police
Last Aug, tragedy struck Singapore’s pride and joy, Jewel Changi Airport, when a toddler passed away in a truly unfortunate mishap.
The 18-month-old was crushed by a full-length mirror in a clothing shop after it fell on her.
She was administered first aid by the staff immediately, but succumbed to her injuries in hospital.
Now, it has emerged that the mirror fell on her as 2 boys had been playing behind it, and accidentally pushed it over, reported Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported on Thursday (2 Apr).
Read on for more details about the findings, which were revealed during a coroner’s inquiry into the death.
Family was waiting for flight back home
The toddler who passed away was Lai Jiaxin, a Chinese national from Fujian province, who was 1 year old at the time.
CNA reported that she and her family — consisting of her mother, grandmother and brother — were on holiday here with another family that had 2 children.
On 23 Aug, 2019, they checked in for their flight back home and were passing the time before their flight at Jewel Changi Airport.
So they visited clothing store Urban Revivo, which is where the tragedy took place.
4 children were running around the shop, watched by 2 grandmothers
According to CNA, closed-circuit TV footage showed the group of travellers shopping in Urban Revivo.
While Jiaxin’s mother and her friend tried on clothes, their mothers watched the young children.
There were 4 children in total in the group — Jiaxin and her 6-year-old brother, as well as the other family’s 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.
Jiaxin’s brother and the other 6-year-old boy were playing together, and squeezed into a gap behind a large mirror and the wall.
As the boys squeezed out of the cramped space, the mirror fell directly on top of Jiaxin, who was standing in front of it.
Staff and family reacted immediately
Once the mirror fell onto the toddler, the shop’s staff as well as her family rushed to lift the mirror, which was 1.99m tall and weighed 116.5kg, off her.
Apparently, 3 people were needed to lift the mirror off the girl, who was 0.83m tall.
Jiaxin was bleeding heavily from her nose and mouth, and was rushed to the hospital where resuscitation was attempted for about one hour, but was pronounced dead that same day.
Autopsy showed cause of death was severe head injury
An autopsy on the child showed that her cause of death was a head injury, due to trauma from the mirror falling on her.
She suffered trauma to her head, skull, brain, neck and limbs. Her lungs and airways were also hurt.
No prior problems with mirrors, gap behind not for regular people
Urban Revivo told the court that it had never experienced problems with the mirrors’ weight and size.
Apparently, nobody had squeezed into the space behind the mirror before this incident, as it was very narrow and a regular-sized person would not be able to fit into it.
All of the store’s mirrors — which were specially designed for the Jewel Changi Airport outlet — have since been removed from the premises, reported CNA.
The team who designed the mirrors considered its safety aspects as well, the court heard, and did not find any problems it after the Singapore store’s opening until this incident.
The court was also told that the mirrors were installed according to strict regulations set by Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA).
The BCA, however, told CNA that they do not oversee the fitting of mirrors.
Urban Revivo has reviewed safety measures and trained staff
Since the incident, Urban Revivo has made efforts to ensure their stores and staff are more well-prepared to ensure the safety of young children, as well as all other patrons.
CNA reported that it has conducted training for staff on watching out for active children, and are to remind parents or guardians to look out for them as well.
They have also put up signs to remind parents to mind their children, and installed new, more secure mirrors that are screwed down.
All Singapore stores have a daily safety checklist to fill in too, along with regular safety checks by the store’s general manager.
Incident arose from child’s unattended actions
The investigating officer’s report put the cause of the incident as arising from the actions of the children, with the report reading,
Testimonies from the next-of-kin and CCTV footage strongly suggest that the incident happened due to a child’s unattended actions.
The police’s stance is that foul play was unlikely in this case, as the children involved were very young, and likely did not understand the gravity of the situation.
They have instead referred to this unfortunate incident as a misadventure.
Parents and guardians should always be attentive to children
Whatever the case, this was a tragic reminder that children – especially young ones and toddlers – need adult supervision at all times.
We hope Jiaxin’s family is coping well with their loss, and once again extend our sincerest condolences to them.
Featured images adapted from Harper’s Bazaar.
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