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Cable job costs teen his life
Sun, Sep 04, 2011 | The New Paper
By Amanda Yong and Pearlyn Tan
SHE had signed up for a SingTel Mio TV package as her husband wanted to catch football matches on the cable network.

When a technician arrived at her flat for the installation on Wednesday, Madam Aminah Amat, 55, a domestic cleaner, thought it would be a routine procedure.

It turned out to be fatal.

The technician, Mong Chu Da, 17, asked for a ladder so he could check the wires outside her ground floor flat. She gave him one and went back into her unit.

Minutes later, she found the teenager sprawled on the floor, shaking and curled up in a foetal position. He died in hospital less than two hours later.

Chu Da worked for a sub-contractor who does Mio TV installations.

It is believed that he had fallen from the 1.8m ladder and hit his head. His death certificate stated that he died of head injuries.

Traumatised by the experience, Madam Aminah wants to cancel her subscription.

"The technicians who came after that didn't manage to do the installation, and I'm afraid something bad will happen again," she said.

"It's so sad that he died. I feel so bad."

Chu Da had turned up at Madam Aminah's flat at Block 310, Bukit Batok Street 32, at around 10.15am.

After she handed him the ladder, she went back in to watch television with her husband.

But when she heard a noise outside, she felt uncomfortable. "It sounded like a pair of scissors had dropped," she said.

When she went out, she was stunned.

"He was lying on his right in a foetal position and his hands and mouth were shaking," she said. His eyes were open, but he was silent. Though he did not seem to have any visible injuries, Madam Aminah was terrified.

"I told my husband to come and help because the boy had collapsed."

A passer-by who had seen what happened also rushed to help Chu Da. The man, who looked to be in his 20s, and Madam Aminah's husband moved the teenager so that he was lying face-up.

"They thought it would help him breathe better," said Madam Aminah. The passer-by called for an ambulance.

"We were wondering how he could have fallen, and one of my neighbours said he might be having a fit, but we couldn't be sure," she said.

She said he stopped shaking after a while, but he looked like he was still breathing slowly.

Chu Da died at around 12.05pm at the National University Hospital.

A police spokesman said they were alerted at around 10.40am. The youth was unconscious when he was taken to the hospital. They are investigating the case as an unnatural death.

At his wake yesterday, Chu Da's widowed mother, Madam Huang Xiu Zhen, 54, sat alone in a corner.

Refused to quit job

The mother of three started crying as she said in Mandarin: "He was my youngest son, a good boy. I told him to quit his job but he refused to as he wanted the money."

Through tears, the cashier at a Yishun coffee shop said she had told him not to ask her for money as she was broke.

She said: "He wanted to pay for his own necessities. He gave me $100 or $200 every month but I don't know how much he earned. He was saving to buy a computer."

Chu Da has two older brothers, 19 and 22. Madam Huang said she is estranged from her first son and her second son is in jail.

"Chu Da began working after he failed his O levels. He was very hard-working and eager to learn. All his colleagues loved him," she said.

"I never met them until the day he died."

Madam Huang was at work when a woman who introduced herself as the wife of Chu Da's employer called to tell her that he was injured and she needed to rush to the hospital.

By the time she arrived at the hospital, Chu Da had died.

Said Madam Huang: "His girlfriend was already there crying. They became a couple only one week ago."

She described her 1.8m-tall son as quiet and polite.

Crying, she added softly that she blamed herself.

"It's my fault he failed his O levels. He didn't go for his exams because he was busy taking care of me when I was hospitalised after a stroke," she said.

"It was only when his teacher visited me in hospital that his school found out why he didn't turn up (for his exams).

"I doted on him and I was closest to him. It's all my fault, this is all my fault."

It was initially believed that Chu Da had been electrocuted but his supervisor said it was unlikely.

Pointing to a newspaper picture of the cables that Chu Da was working on, he said they are phone lines.

"He died after he fell off the ladder. It was an accident," said the supervisor.

When contacted yesterday, a SingTel spokesman said the company was deeply saddened and is working with its

"His girlfriend was already there crying. They became a couple only one week ago."

- Madam Huang Xiu Zhen, Mong Chu Da's mother, on the dead teenager's girlfriend who had arrived at the hospital before her.

contracting partner to help Chu Da's family.

"As this tragic incident is the subject of a police investigation, we are unable to provide further details at this time," she said.

"The safety of employees and contractors is a top priority for SingTel. We have rigorous safety training procedures in place and expect contracting partners and employees to adhere to them."

This article was first published in The New Paper.