Lorry crash: Indian worker's body to be flown home

Straits Times, Published on Jul 5, 2012

Friends and colleagues of Mr Kathiravan, 19, at the morgue. The Indian national's body was collected yesterday. -- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG

THE body of the 19-year-old worker who died in a lorry accident on Tuesday will be flown back to India for the funeral.

The body of the man known as Mr Kathiravan, who worked for Beng Khim Construction, was collected at the mortuary yesterday.

He was flung out after the lorry, which was carrying 26 workers including the driver, collided with another lorry that reportedly swerved into its path on Tanah Merah Coast Road.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Out of his 15 colleagues who were warded at the Changi General Hospital on Tuesday, 13 are still there, with five in the intensive care unit.

One victim, Mr Ramu Alagarsamy, 37, said his last memory was of falling asleep before the accident.

When he woke up, he was already in hospital, said the man, who has been in Singapore for only 2 1/2 months.

Another victim who is in intensive care is the driver of the other lorry, which is said to have moved in a haphazard way and cut into the path of the lorry ferrying the workers.

The driver of the other lorry, Indian national P. Jayaprakash, 25, was conscious but unable to speak, said a friend who works with him at Wai Fong Construction and was there to visit him.

Mr Edwin Pang, executive director of the Migrant Workers Centre, said it will work with the employer, who is bearing the medical expenses, to ensure the welfare of the workers.

'We have assured the workers that we stand ready to provide them with any further assistance and care they may require,' he added.

JALELAH ABU BAKER