Man charged over 2022 Bedok North fire that killed 4 people, including 3-year-old girl
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Ithnin Hurdi allegedly contributed to the risk of causing a fire by placing a lit cigarette on a cardboard box in the living room.
PHOTOS: ST READER, SCDF/FACEBOOK
- Ithnin Hurdi faces a charge linked to a fire in Bedok that killed four people.
- State Coroner Adam Nakhoda ruled the deaths of Ms Aileen Chan, Mr Tan Soon Keong and his daughter as a misadventure.
- Court documents stated that a fourth person, Kwa Poey Yee, died in the blaze.
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SINGAPORE – A man was charged on Jan 14 over his alleged role in a fire that broke out in a Bedok Housing Board flat in 2022
According to court documents, Ithnin Hurdi, 60, allegedly contributed to the risk of causing a fire by placing a lit cigarette on a cardboard box in the living room of a fourth-floor unit at Block 409 Bedok North Avenue 2 at around 6.30am on May 13 that year.
On Jan 14, he was also charged with an unrelated offence – causing grievous hurt to a pedestrian in October 2023 while driving a van without considering other road users.
In November 2023, State Coroner Adam Nakhoda ruled that the deaths of home owner Aileen Chan, 56, and two of her tenants – Malaysian Tan Soon Keong, 35, and his three-year-old daughter Tan Hui En
Court documents stated that Mr Tan’s wife, Madam Kwa Poey Yee, 34, also died following the blaze.
ST earlier reported that Ithnin was Ms Chan’s boyfriend.
In his findings, State Coroner Nakhoda said
Ms Chan, a film producer and actress who had previously battled cancer,
According to the State Coroner, Ithnin lit a cigarette in the master bedroom as he dressed.
Later, when he sat on a recliner sofa in the living room to put on his shoes, he allegedly placed the cigarette on a nearby stack of cardboard boxes before leaving the flat.
He realised only at around 5.45am that he had allegedly left the cigarette unattended, and sent two voice messages to Ms Chan to retrieve the cigarette.
Based on her replies to him, she got rid of the cigarette and returned to her room, said State Coroner Nakhoda.
By then, the cigarette had been left unattended for 10 to 15 minutes.
Hot ash and embers could already have fallen onto the cardboard, and the lit tip of the cigarette might have touched the cardboard box, causing the edge of the box to smoulder, he added.
The living room was engulfed in flames around 45 minutes later.
Neighbours alerted the Singapore Civil Defence Force at about 6.30am and firefighters extinguished the fire by 7.05am.
They found Ms Chan unresponsive and severely burnt. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr Tan, his daughter and Madam Kwa had collapsed and were found unresponsive. They were rushed to hospital, where father and daughter died of fume inhalation that morning.
Neighbours alerted the Singapore Civil Defence Force at about 6.30am and firefighters extinguished the fire by 7.05am.
PHOTOS: SCDF/FACEBOOK, LEE MEI MEI
During the inquiry into their deaths, a police investigation officer told the court in 2023 that Madam Kwa was in a vegetative state in a Kuala Lumpur hospital, and it was unlikely that she would recover.
It is not known when she died.
In an unrelated case, Ithnin was driving a van at a traffic junction on Spooner Road by Kampong Bahru Road at around 6.45am on Oct 6, 2023. He allegedly failed to give way while making a right turn, resulting in a collision with a 32-year-old male pedestrian who suffered grievous hurt.
Details about the man’s injuries were not disclosed in court documents.
Ithnin’s case will be mentioned again on Feb 11.
