He dies, 1 day before going home

He was heading to Chinatown to change money a day before his flight back to China, which was due to depart yesterday.

Chinese national Shi Shumu, 59, never made it - he was killed in an accident on Yishun Ring Road on Wednesday.

His daughter, Madam Shi Ming Jiao, told The New Paper yesterday that her father had a long-term visit pass and split his time between Singapore and Anxi, China, where most of his family lives.

Madam Shi, 35, who married a Singaporean and has two primary school going daughters, lives in a four-room flat at Yishun Avenue 6.

Her father stays with them whenever he is in town.

The former food seller preferred staying here with his daughter and his grandchildren because of the better weather.

Mr Shi usually kept to himself, and would stay at home to watch the Chinese news on television, or visit his sister who lives in Sengkang.

Madam Shi, who moved to Singapore about 15 years ago and is now a citizen, said: "When (my brother and I) were younger, my father was always working, trying to give us a better life. So now that we're more comfortable, he's been trying to spend more time with us."

VACATION

She said the family's last holiday was in October when she accompanied her father back to the town of Longmen in Anxi.

Mr Shi had been here since Christmas Day and was going home because his elderly mother is unwell, his daughter said.

Madam Shi said that after leaving home for Chinatown on Wednesday, Mr Shi boarded the wrong bus. The driver showed him the stop to alight at and told him to change buses.

What happened next is still unclear, but Mr Shi was hit by a delivery van at Yishun Ring Road.

TNP reported yesterday that a witness, Mr Adesh Mohan, 25, saw Mr Shi get thrown a distance of about 5m.

In the report, the delivery van driver, who wanted to be known only as Mr Selvam, 35, was quoted as saying: "It was as if the man came out of nowhere and appeared in front of my van."

Passers-by tried to help before paramedics arrived and took Mr Shi to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital where he died from his injuries.

Madam Shi, who works as a kitchen assistant, said she was at work when the hospital called to deliver the bad news.

"I was at a loss. It was all so sudden that I thought it was a joke. Then I broke down and cried in the kitchen," she said in Mandarin.

What followed afterwards was a blur of shuttling between the hospital, mortuary and undertakers.

The family is waiting for Madam Shi's mother and brother to arrive in Singapore before collecting the body and holding a wake.

They are still waiting for the visas to be approved, but no one can tell them exactly how long that would take.

HEARTBREAKING

"Seeing my father on a mortuary table is a heartbreaking sight. And to not be able to bring him home is even worse," said Madam Shi, tearing up.

Madam Shi and her family are appealing for more witnesses to the accident to come forward.

"No matter whose fault it is, we just want to hear from more people so we can understand how such a terrible thing happened," she said.

Police are investigating.

This article was first published on March 20, 2015.
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