He disappeared without a trace nearly 15 years ago. Now his family, after years of fruitless searching, is seeking a court order to declare him legally dead.

Retired construction worker Sim Toh Hock, who would now be 85, has not returned to his Bukit Panjang flat or contacted his family since heading out for breakfast on the morning of Aug 4, 2004. Notices put up in newspapers and search efforts across the island over the years have drawn a blank.