'My mother has been unstable since the fire and can’t sleep'
When his father did not return home for dinner on Sept 19, his mother waited with concern.
But it was not unusual for Mr Lim Choon Siew, 65, to dine out after work and have drinks with friends, said his younger son, Mr Lin Qiyang.
At about midnight, the police came knocking at the family’s home in Hougang, bringing tragic news – Mr Lim, a carpenter, was one of two victims of a fire that ravaged a signage shop, Amen International, at an industrial building in Kaki Bukit Road 4.
Mr Lin told The Straits Times at his father’s wake on Sept 22: “My mother has been unstable since the fire and can’t sleep. My older brother and I have to be strong for her. But I have many questions about the incident.”
The distraught 28-year-old, who works in the technology and sales industry, said he wants to know if a fire alarm or sprinkler system had been triggered by the fire, and whether the two victims heard the fire alarm if it had gone off.
The blaze on the fifth floor of the Synergy@KB building occurred just before 1pm, witnesses told ST.
Mr Lim and a Malaysian apprentice, 51, were found unconscious in furniture shop Wooden Story, where they worked, opposite the burning Amen International.
Firefighters performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the victims, who were taken unconscious to Changi General Hospital, where they later died, said the police.
ST previously reported that an employee at Wooden Story had told a witness that two of his colleagues were trapped in the unit.
He had been on his mobile phone with the trapped men when the other phone went silent.
Said Mr Lin: “My father told the employee he couldn’t breathe because there was too much smoke coming into the unit.
“In that phone call, the employee recounted hearing the other trapped person coughing violently.”
Mr Lim’s eldest son, Mr Lin Qiming, 41, found out about the fire that afternoon but had no inkling at the time that his father had died.
The chef told ST: “There was no way to know my father was involved in the fire because there were no photos or names in the earlier news reports.”
Mr Lim’s friends and colleagues, as well as many relatives, were at the wake. He was the second eldest sibling in a family of six sons and three daughters.
He had been working part-time for over a month and was in retirement mode, said Mr Lin Qiming.
“My father would help me at my food stall and do simple stuff like admin work or making sauces,” he added.
Mr Lin said he would always remember his father because his handiwork was everywhere in the family home.
“It’s going to be hard to forget him as he built almost everything at home with his own hands.”
Mr Lim made the chairs, cabinets, altar and table in the home – a craft he had honed since working as a carpenter from the age of 12. He also repaired anything that got damaged.
Mr Lin Qiming added that his late father may have been a jovial person to his close friends, but, in essence, he was a serious craftsman.
The younger Lin, who lives with his parents, said: “He (my father) cared very much for his family. Since his youth, all he knew was to provide for his large family, working from morning to night with his hands.”
He hopes the investigation into the fire will reveal more details about his father’s death and lay the family’s concerns to rest.
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