'I would pray, don't let him get Covid, and then this happened...'
Mum tells of her fears and dreams for her son, a construction worker who died in a PIE crash
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Mrs Sugunan Shanthi with her son Sugunan Sudheeshmon, when he arrived in Singapore some years ago. They met on their days off, though Covid-19 curbs meant spending only a few hours a week together. At their last meeting, Mr Sugunan was teased by friends because he insisted on holding his mother's handbag for her.
PHOTO: SUGUNAN SHANTHI
Every night, Mrs Sugunan Shanthi would wait for her son's call so that her worries about his contracting Covid-19 would be eased.
Close to midnight on Monday, Mr Sugunan Sudheeshmon's call to tell his mother that he was safe and had just got back to his dormitory in Tuas finally came.
But that was the last time the construction worker spoke to her.
Mrs Sugunan, 50, had been worrying about losing her son to Covid-19 but in the end, it was a road accident that killed him.
Hours after their last conversation, Mr Sugunan, 28, was travelling on the back of a lorry when it crashed into a stationary tipper truck on the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE). He died later on Thursday night.
A distraught Mrs Sugunan, who is from the southern Indian state of Kerala, told The Sunday Times yesterday morning: "I would pray, 'Please don't let him get a fever,' 'Don't let him get Covid', and then this happened... He came through all of that only for this to happen."
The domestic worker, who works in Singapore, added: "I never expected to take him back as a dead body. He had so many dreams."
Mr Sugunan, who leaves behind his wife and an 18-month-old son, had hoped to make enough money to buy land and build a house, she said.
Mrs Sugunan had to leave her two sons behind when she moved to Singapore to work 13 years ago. Mr Sugunan was then 14 and his brother, 11, and they then lived with an aunt.
The widow - her husband died before she came to Singapore - said: "I had to leave my children and come here, and I didn't want his son to also have to grow up in somebody else's house... He wanted to make enough to build a house and go back and I wanted that family to stay together."
Mr Sugunan pawned the family jewellery to pay for his broker's fees, to join his mother and work in Singapore about 2½ years ago. He had hoped to redeem the jewellery but still had outstanding loans.
The mother and son would meet on their days off, even though Covid-19 restrictions meant they could spend only a few hours a week with each other.
Mrs Sugunan said her son's roommates would make fun of him as his mother still bought him clothes and food. At their last meeting a few weeks ago, Mr Sugunan was teased because he insisted on holding his mother's handbag for her.
Mrs Sugunan recounted how the pair went to Bugis to buy lottery tickets, which her son held on to. She said: "He never expected to die here."
But at about 6am on Tuesday morning, he was travelling on the back of a lorry with 16 others to a worksite in Woodlands when the lorry collided with a stationary tipper truck on the PIE towards Changi Airport before the Jalan Bahar exit.
Another worker, Bangladeshi Toffazal Hossain, 33, died in hospital on Tuesday. Five other workers remain in hospital.
The lorry driver, a 36-year-old man, has been arrested for careless driving causing death.
Mrs Sugunan's employer, Mrs Veena Cherian, 50, accompanied her to see Mr Sugunan in the intensive care unit (ICU) hours before he died.
Mrs Cherian, an administration manager, said: "She was so hopeful. When we prayed at the ICU, we both just had this feeling he was going to come back."
Mrs Sugunan has been speaking to a counsellor with non-profit organisation ItsRainingRaincoats.
She left for India last night, knowing she might not be able to return to Singapore soon in the light of Covid-19 restrictions. As at 11.59pm on Friday, long-term pass holders and short-term visitors who have travelled to India within the last 14 days cannot enter Singapore.
Mrs Sugunan hopes more can be done to better protect workers.
The Land Transport Authority's One Motoring website states that lorries can ferry workers between their lodgings and workplace. But they must not travel faster than the road speed limit, or 60kmh, whichever is lower.
Mrs Sugunan called for making seat belts mandatory, adding: "I hope they make better measures... so no other mother will have to lose a child like this."
