Body of woman who fell off a cliff returning to S'pore on Dec 27

The body of the 39-year-old Singaporean woman who died after falling off a 30m cliff in New York will arrive in Singapore on Dec 27, said her husband Abdul Rauf Mohd Said.

In a series of posts on Facebook on Dec 25 and Dec 26, Mr Abdul Rauf said the United States authorities had completed an autopsy, and the body of Madam Nur Aisyah is being brought back on a Singapore Airlines flight.

It is expected to land in Singapore on Wednesday at about 6.55am, he added.

He said those who wish to pay their last respects to his wife can go to their house in Jalan Loyang Besar from 10.30am on Dec 27.

Madam Nur Aisyah and her husband were at the Minnewaska State Park Preserve on Dec 22 when she slipped, fell off a cliff and died, The Straits Times reported on Dec 24.

In his Facebook posts, Mr Abdul Rauf - who co-founded real estate investment firm Noble Sky International with Madam Nur Aisyah - provided more details of the tragedy.

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After the fall, he said his wife was still breathing when a family of five who were passing by helped locate her. But by the time she was airlifted by a helicopter and taken to an ambulance, she had died.

He also addressed concerns raised online by several people, who asked what the couple were doing at the park, and why he was not at the bottom of the cliff with his wife after the fall, among other things.

Mr Abdul Rauf, 41, said the couple were sitting at a “nice part” of the park taking pictures while discussing future goals, and it was about 0 deg C at the time, with ice covering the ground.

He added that he could not get to his wife at the bottom of the cliff because he was “slipping and falling every few steps” due to the slippery terrain that made walking down the hill tricky.

He said: “There was no way those shoes were able to bring me down the difficult terrain, 100 feet (30m) below.

“By the time I thought of even attempting to head down to her again, the rescuers came and backed me to a safe distance away from the edge and forbade me from coming near the cliff for fear that I would interfere and compromise the rescue operation due to my emotional stress shown then.”

Mr Abdul Rauf also said he had posted videos, photos, and his account of the incident on Facebook as he was fielding “a few hundred messages and calls” from others who have heard about the incident, even before he had made his first post about it.

“I am beyond broken right now. I am distraught. But amidst my grieving, I have to respect and understand that my wife didn’t only have me in her life,” said Mr Abdul Rauf, who added that she was loved by many.

“What was necessary, I have uploaded, and I don’t owe any self-serving keyboard warriors out there anything.”

He also said he had surrendered pictures and videos captured on his phone before and after the incident to the New York State Police, and these were examined by detectives.

“It did not take the police long to rule the death an accident, after seeing all the footage.”

In a Facebook post on Dec 26, Mr Abdul Rauf thanked Singapore Airlines, the John F. Kennedy International Airport, and the Singapore consulate in New York for helping with transportation and administrative arrangements during the busy holiday season.

“My wife’s family and her loved ones are grateful,” he said.