Body of undergrad lost at sea found

Undergraduate Goh Chuan Kiet was the first to go missing in a recent series of mishaps at sea, but his body was the last to be found.

A kayaking enthusiast spotted Mr Goh's shirtless body adrift in the waters about 500m from the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal on Tuesday evening - more than two days after he disappeared.

"I saw something in the water and guessed it might be a body, but it was only after we got closer that we were sure," said Ms Faezah Abdul Samad, a member of Constant Wind Sailing School, where Mr Goh passed his Level One windsurfing certification just a week ago. She alerted the school, which then called the authorities, who arrived shortly after to retrieve the body.

Ms Faezah had joined the search-and-rescue operations for Mr Goh, which involved Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Police Coast Guard rescue craft.

The 24-year-old student, along with more than 12 other volunteers, spent hours scouring the waters for the missing Singaporean man. They used rubber dinghies loaded with radios, transponders and rescue supplies.

Mr Goh, a 23-year-old student from SIM Global Education, was paddle-boarding with his friends at Changi when he went missing at about 2pm on Sunday after a storm broke out in the area.

The MPA, without naming him, confirmed on Wednesday that the body had been found near the ferry terminal at about 6.20pm on Tuesday.

"The body is established to be that of the male Singaporean who went missing in the waters off the National Service Resort and Country Club," said a spokesman.

On Wednesday was also a day of grief for two other families as they arrived at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) mortuary to claim the bodies of their loved ones.

The father of a 17-month-old boy was at the mortuary in the afternoon with a bag of stuffed toys that was cremated with the infant later in the day. The Frenchman was in tears as he made his way out after claiming his son's body.

He declined to comment when approached by reporters.

His wife, 44-year-old Lim Ann Nee, is the mother of the boy, whose body was found floating near Bedok Jetty on Monday night. The police said Lim was charged on Tuesday over his murder. She faces the death penalty if convicted.

The Straits Times understands that she has been remanded at Changi Medical Centre for psychiatric evaluation, after being discharged from SGH on Tuesday afternoon. The case against her is expected to be heard in court again in about two weeks.

Separately, the cousin of a 24-year-old Vietnamese man, whose body was found floating in the sea off East Coast Park on Tuesday, arrived at SGH with several bags of his belongings accumulated during his four-year stay in Singapore.

Mr Tran Huy Tho had disappeared after he jumped into the sea on Monday.

His cousin Tracy Nguyen, 26, told The Straits Times she hoped to repatriate the body of Mr Tho to Vietnam today, and thanked the Singapore authorities for helping in the recovery.

She flew in from Ho Chi Minh City on Monday and reportedly said that her cousin left Hanoi for Singapore four years ago without explanation, and had no immediate family members here.

Ms Nguyen added that even before she had learnt of his disappearance, she had originally planned to fly here to persuade Mr Tho to return home.

"It was a shock to learn two hours before my scheduled flight that he had jumped on the same day I was supposed to bring him back. I guess you could call it fate," she said.

Investigations into all three cases are continuing.

hpeishan@sph.com.sg

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