Boy, 3, dies after bus runs over him at funeral

Boy, 3, dies after bus runs over him at funeral

SINGAPORE- When pre-school teacher Jayshri Ramasamy went to the Choa Chu Kang cemetery on Sunday for a relative's funeral, little did she know that a cruel twist of fate would bring her back to the same place the next day.

The 30-year-old had taken her two young sons, aged five and 3½ years old, to the funeral of her younger sister's father-in-law.

The three of them had just alighted at the Christian cemetery at about 4.15pm from a private bus that had ferried them there. Ms Jayshri was holding both of her boys' hands when the shoelaces of her older son Asavin came undone.

She had just let go of her younger son Kryshan momentarily to help Asavin redo his laces when tragedy struck.

According to eyewitnesses, the bus seemed to have reversed and pinned Kryshan under its front left wheel.

"We were about to take out the coffin from the hearse when we heard a loud thud," said Kryshan's uncle, who wanted to be known only as Mr Siva.

"Everyone was screaming and the bus driver was sitting on the steps of the bus with his hands on his head. That's when we realised that it was our nephew."

The boy was later pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Yesterday at 6pm, just over 24 hours after she had arrived to send off her relative, Ms Jayshri returned to Choa Chu Kang - this time to the Hindu cemetery - to bury her younger son in front of at least a hundred sobbing friends and relatives.

Earlier in the afternoon, the boy's father, Nirmal Kumar Loganathan, 30, arrived in handcuffs at his son's wake held at the family's four-room flat in Woodlands.

He spent about 40 minutes there before he was escorted, bawling, back into a prison van.

It is unclear why the boy's father is in prison, but The Straits Times understands that he and Ms Jayshri were separated about a year ago. The mother was too distraught to speak to reporters yesterday.

"Relatives said that Jayshri kept pulling Kryshan's hand and wouldn't let go," said the boy's maternal grandfather Ramasamy V.S. Chinniah, who was not present when the accident happened.

"Till now she hasn't spoken to me about it. She's still in shock," said the 56-year-old pump attendant.

Relatives described Kryshan as a bubbly boy who was very sharp for his age.

"He was such a cheerful boy - mischievous, and very intelligent for his age," said his grandaunt, Madam Kasturi.

"He was very kind... very friendly with everybody. Even his teachers said so," said Mr Ramasamy, adding that his grandson enjoyed playing with water guns and his favourite dish was chicken rice.

Kryshan's brother Asavin was not at the funeral. Mr Ramasamy said that the older boy was not allowed to make the trip to the cemetery. "We didn't want to make the same mistake again," he added.

Meanwhile, the 48-year-old bus driver has been arrested for allegedly causing death by a negligent act, and is currently assisting with police investigations.


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