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SIBU: Looking pale and tired, 56-year-old Phang Wei Beng is busy burning “money from hell” in a half-cut metal barrel at Sibu’s morgue.
Assisted by his nieces, he asked them to burn the “money” or joss paper (spiritual paper) slowly, piece by piece according to Chinese customs, to ensure that his loved ones had a safe journey to the underworld.
Phang then went on to talk to his brother-in-law and asked him to go find some relatives, before speaking to a representative of a funeral service provider.
It was heartbreaking to see the man grappling with his emotions as he did his best to give his loved ones, who were tragically taken from him, a proper burial.
“I’m fine,” he said when the reporters approached him, but admitted he was stunned.
One can only guess the depth of his grief after the tragic incident at Triso Ferry Point that claimed the lives of his wife and two children on Friday.
His wife Lorna Ting, 33, and their two children, Alvin, 12, and Wallace, seven, were killed after a four-wheel drive vehicle in which they were traveling with six other family members sank in the Batang Lupar River.
The accident also claimed the lives of Lorna’s older sister, Siti Aishah Abdullah, 36, and her five children, Nor Shuhada, 16; Khairunnisa, 14; Mohd Aiman Mohd Hamzah, seven; Muhd Mustaqin, five; and Mohd Ahmad, four months old.
They were on their way to Kuching to send Siti Aishah’s daughters to a madrassa. Phang confirmed that the bodies of his loved ones would be cremated and the ashes buried at the Nirvana Memorial Park in Sibu tomorrow.
Dozens of relatives of various races and religious backgrounds, from Sibu and Kapit, were at the morgue to pay their respects and were seen consoling Lorna’s mother, Munah Agon, 58.
Munah, who was riding in another car driven by her son Ting Hing Soon, was reported to have witnessed the vehicle carrying her two daughters and seven grandchildren crash into the water from the jetty.
The bodies of Siti Aishah and her five children were buried in the Kampung Hulu Muslim Cemetery in Sri Aman on Saturday. – Bernama
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