|
FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE VICTIMS wait anxiously for news of their loved ones at the Sunway Hotel in Phnom Penh. They were taken to the waterfront, near the site of the accident, by Singapore Embassy officials and also met Cambodian officials. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
|
|
|
IT WAS well past midnight on Friday, but the lights were still on at the Singapore Dragon Boat Association's headquarters near the Kallang River.
The compound of the one-storey building in Stadium Drive was almost deserted, but inside several officials were huddled in discussions.
The headquarters, usually buzzing with rowers every weekend, had overnight become a command centre of sorts.
Family members of the 17 who survived and the five still missing were calling to get the latest information on the accident.
Arriving at the association past 1am yesterday were its president Rear-Admiral (Ret) Kwek Siew Jin and senior vice-presidents, MPs Fatimah Lateef and Lam Pin Min.
They told The Sunday Times that earlier in the night, they had visited the families of the five missing men to break the news to them.
'We are all waiting very anxiously for news about our rowers,' RADM (Ret) Kwek said.
Most of yesterday morning, officials continued to work the phones, seeing to last-minute flight arrangements for relatives heading to Phnom Penh.
About 13 of them arrived at Changi Airport Terminal 2 yesterday afternoon for the SilkAir flight to the Cambodian capital.
Together with the relatives were RADM Kwek and grief counsellors from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.
The wait took its toll on the grieving mother of one of the missing men - 20-year-old Mr Chee Wei Cheng. She was leaning against a pillar sobbing as relatives rallied around her to console her.
There were few dry eyes in the group.
The counsellors went about their task almost immediately as well, approaching the family members and offering their support.
The relatives mostly kept to themselves though, but when approached by The Sunday Times, most said they wanted answers: Where were their loved ones and what had happened on the river?
'He called when he got to Cambodia and we haven't heard from him since,' said the brother of missing dragon boater Jeremy Goh.
The 24-year-old Singapore Institute of Management student had left Singapore on Thursday and was due back tomorrow.
'We're just going there to see what's going on and hoping for the best,' said his brother.
After landing at Phnom Penh International Airport at around 6pm, family members were escorted to the site of the accident on the Tonle Sap river waterfront by Singapore Ambassador Tan Yee Woan and the embassy's First Secretary William Chik.
They then were taken to a hotel to meet Cambodian officials, including Tourism Minister Thong Khon and deputy secretary-general of the National Disaster Management Committee Nhim Vanda.
One Singaporean woman nearly collapsed in the hotel lobby, and had to be supported by two people to make her way to the briefing room.
Mr Lim Wee Kok, executive secretary of the Singapore Dragon Boat Association, as well as officials and surviving members of the rowing team were also present to greet their missing teammates' families.
The rowers explained how they were heading back after the race when the boat was hit by a wave and capsized.
One of the survivors told The Sunday Times: 'I feared for my life. I was sucked under.'
He added that the team had decided not to say more about the incident for now.
'That the relatives of the missing teammates are here gives us some comfort, but at the same time it hurts that we still do not know what had happened to our friends.'
'It hurts that we still do not know what had happened to our friends.'
ONE OF THE SURVIVORS
Reports by Judith Tan and Michelle Vachon in Phnom Penh; Mavis Toh, Jamie Ee Wen Wei, Nur Dianah Suhaimi, Carolyn Quek and Liaw Wy-Cin in Singapore
|
