KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Some 300 people, including friends, schoolmates and relatives, on Wednesday (Jan 17) crowded the narrow corridor of the Sri Pantai People's Housing Project to attend the funeral of S. Sathiswaran, who died after a falling chair hit him.
The 15-year-old died after being struck by an office chair, believed to have been hurled from the upper floor of his family's flat in Pantai Dalam.
During the funeral, which started at around 10am at the family's unit on the 16th floor, some had turned up crying and wailing.
Among the crowd was the victim's mother, S. Kasthuri Bai, 45, who looked inconsolable as Sathiswaran's body was taken away in a hearse.
Friends and relatives of the SMK La Salle schoolboy looked on as the final rites were performed.
At 2.20pm, the boy's body was taken away in a coffin borne by his friends and family members, to be laid to rest at the MBPJ Damansara Hindu Cemetery at about 4pm.
One of the residents who turned up at the funeral said the management needed to do something about the hazards at the flats.
"There is junk everywhere. People just leave trash and discarded furniture around.
"We pay RM48 (S$16) monthly for maintenance but things like the elevators break down regularly and old people like me are forced to use the stairs," said the man in his 60s who only wished to be known as Ganesan.
The victim's brother, S. Yogeswaran, 18, also shared the same sentiment.
"I don't want this to happen to anyone or their brother. Something needs to be done to make sure this does not recur," he said.
Meanwhile, police have interviewed 31 people and five of them have had their DNA samples taken for analysis in the case. It is learnt the five were residents who had a lot of furniture in their apartment.
Kuala Lumpur CID chief Senior Asst Comm Rusdi Md Isa, however, said the five are not suspects.
"We will be taking more samples from other witnesses. This also does not mean that there was any DNA on the chair. Let us investigate," he said.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Comm Datuk Mazlan Lazim, in a statement, said the case was being investigated as murder.
It was initially classified as causing death by negligence.
The police are also waiting for the post-mortem results.
