Fatal fall: Student was the 'darling' of family

SINGAPORE - Mr Lee Jun Jie, a 23-year-old National University of Singapore (NUS) student, had a simple home-cooked lunch with his family on Christmas Day.

"We just talked about normal things," his younger sister told The Straits Times. It turned out to be Mr Lee's last meal with his family.

The family of four were looking forward to having another meal together on New Year's Day, after Mr Lee's camping trip to Kelantan, Malaysia.

But tragically, he fell to his death from the top of a mountain in Kelantan on Saturday.

The accident happened at about 7pm. Mr Lee was said to have been enjoying the sunset atop Mount Stong's 1,433m seven-tiered waterfall when he slipped and plunged into a ravine next to the gushing waters.

His body was found by rescuers in the lake below at about 9.50am on Sunday. On Monday, his father told The Straits Times that Malaysian police conducted a post-mortem and drowning was the cause of Mr Lee's death.

An NUS spokesman said on Monday that the five-day trekking trip, organised by an NUS student interest group, has been cancelled and "the group returned safely to Singapore today".

Mr Lee's parents, who flew to Kelantan to identify his body on Sunday, returned to Singapore on Monday. They said that his body would arrive in Singapore by land on Tuesday morning.

A wake would be held from Tuesday at Block 14, Toh Yi Drive. He will be buried at Choa Chu Kang Christian Cemetery on Friday.

Mr Lee's father, who declined to be named and did not wish to reveal his occupation, said: "I hope the authorities can determine the cause of the accident soon and prevent such accidents from happening again, so Jun Jie will not have died in vain."

The second-year mechanical engineering student is said to have been a doting older brother and was well-liked by his peers in NUS. He was the "darling" of the family, an aunt told The Straits Times. His mother was too distraught to speak to the newspaper.

Mr Lee, who played the piano, was the choral director of NUS' Raffles Hall Musical Productions.

It was his childhood dream to be a pilot and he was planning to specialise in aeronautical engineering, said his younger sister, also an NUS student who wanted to be known only as Miss Lee.

Fighting back her tears, the aunt, who gave her name only as Madam Cheong, said: "He was looking forward to the Singapore Airshow in February. I had already got the tickets for him. Now, he will not get to go."

joycel@sph.com.sg

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