SINGAPORE - The Young Lions, currently representing Singapore in football at the SEA Games, visited Tanjong Katong Primary School (TKPS) to offer their condolences for families of the victims of last week's Mount Kinabalu earthquake.
Led by their coach Aide Iskandar, team members pinned a white shirt bearing the words, "We are with you TKPS" onto one of the condolence boards, and signed their names on it. They also wrote messages for the affected families.
A teary-eyed Aide said the visit to the school at about 12.30pm on Tuesday (June 9) was for the team to show solidarity with families of the victims.
His eldest son, 14, is a former student of TKPS and his youngest son, 11, is a Primary 6 pupil there.
He is personally affected by the tragedy as he knew the missing teacher, Mr Mohammad Ghazi Mohamed, who had attended one of his coaching classes.
Of Mr Ghazi, Aide said: "He was willing to learn, bubbly and super helpful. Anything you need, he will provide."
He added that his wife and him were especially affected knowing that it could have been their younger son on the school's annual Mount Kinabalu expedition.
Six pupils and one teacher from the school died on the mountain when a 6.0-magnitude quake struck Sabah in Malaysia last Friday (June 5). A pupil and Mr Ghazi are still missing.
On Monday (June 8) night, the Young Lions beat Cambodia 3-1 at the SEA Games - a win that Aide dedicated to the families of the victims of the earthquake.
He said: "For last night's match, we wanted to get the victory to lighten their sadness and their disappointment for their loss, and hopefully that could help."
The Ministry of Education said the well-wishing site at Tanjong Katong Primary School will continue to be open to members of the public until Thursday (June 11). The opening hours are from 10am to 7pm.
