Team-mates pay last respects to rowers at boating tragedy site
The remaining 17 Singapore national dragon boat rowers paid their last respects to their five team-mates who died when their boat capsized in a freak accident last Friday before they flew back to Singapore on Monday morning.
Along with their team captain and four officials of the Singapore Dragon Boat Association and Singapore Sports Council, they gathered at the pontoon on the banks of Cambodia's Tonle Sap River, the boating tragedy site, at about 7.45 am to pray for the five, whose bodies were recovered on Sunday morning after nearly 40 hours of search.
The rowers, clad in their red and white track suites, knelt on the edge of the river to pray and observed a minute's silence before tossing white and yellow Chrysanthemums into the river.
When they arrived at the pontoon, the parents of Mr Reuben Kee En Rui, 23, and Mr Stephen Loh Soon Ann, 31, were already there. When they saw their sons' rowing mates, the mothers of Stephen and Rueben broke down and had to be quickly led to the waiting van.
Some of the rowers sobbed, while others huddled together. A few snapped final photos with their digital cameras.
The joss sticks were then lit and the team, together with officials, offered a last prayer before making their way to shore and placing the joss sticks on an altar under a small tree.
The rowers then boarded a bus and headed to the airport - with Cambodian police outriders opening the way for them.
They should be back in Singapore just after noon.
The other three who died in the accident were Mr Chee Wei Cheng, 20, Mr Jeremy Goh Tze Xiong, 24, and Mr Poh Boon San, 27.
The bodies of the five will be flown back by a Singapore military plane later on Monday.
The 22-strong Singapore national team was in Phnom Penh to take part in the Water Festival, which included international teams for the first time.
The Singapore boat was docking after the race when a freak wave overturned it. Seventeen of the rowers were pulled from the waters but the five vanished.
Their bodies were fished out of the murky river after a 40-hour search involving about 200 fishermen, soldiers and a team from the Singapore Navy's diving unit.
Two of the bodies were recovered about 4 km away from the accident site.
