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Cheryl teh
The times of the strait
November 1, 2020
Friends and family gathered at Blk 81 Bedok North Road on Friday night (October 30) for the Buddhist funeral rites of a 35-year-old mother who fell from a Housing Board block with her five-week-old daughter.
The woman and her young daughter were pronounced dead at 5:47 p.m. Thursday after their bodies were found at the foot of Block 81 Bedok North Road.
Police are investigating the incident as a case of unnatural deaths.
Shin Min Daily News identified the woman as Ms. Tay Mei Mei. The Straits Times learned that she and her husband, Mr. On Chee Meng, both in their 30s, were married in 2013 and also have a four-year-old daughter.
ST understands that they lived on the block where the incident occurred.
No one was home on a visit to the unit, but there was a bag of food and a note on the door.
On the empty deck, family and friends were helping prepare a wake with fresh flowers and fruits.
Grim-faced friends and neighbors lined up to pay their respects to both mother and daughter, bowing before a pure white altar behind which two coffins lay side by side, while two monks performed funeral rites.
Mr. Ong did not speak to members of the media, but sobbed and had to be supported by members of his family as he approached the coffins.
One of Mr. Ong’s relatives and a representative of the deceased’s family told ST: “We are still not clear about what happened last night and we are trying to fix things.
“Chee Meng is still distraught and grieving, and I hope we can have some room to cry.”
“We support him as we try to piece together what really happened,” said the 29-year-old, who works in the aviation industry and who only gives his name as Mr. Tan.
He said that Ms. Tay seemed to be in a good mood the last time he saw her on Chinese New Year.
“I’ve always known that she is a very happy person,” he said.
About three weeks before the tragic event on Thursday night, a resident who lived on the same block noticed that Ms. Tay appeared to be sad.
Madame Low, who is in her 80s and declined to give her full name, said: “She looked very pale and her baby was still crying loudly in the elevator.
“I’m not familiar with her or her family, but I thought she was a very quiet and reserved young woman,” he said in Cantonese.
A neighbor in his 70s, who wanted to be known only as Mr. Ismail, said that he had seen the deceased and her eldest daughter on the farm several times.
“I saw her once when she was very pregnant. Then he looked very happy and was taking his daughter on a bicycle, ”said Mr. Ismail, who lives on the same block.
“I can’t believe they are gone. It is very sad.”
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