SAF warrant officer found dead 'hanging from rope'

SINGAPORE - A 51-year-old army regular was found "hanging from a rope" in a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) training area in Lentor on Tuesday - the first SAF serviceman to die while in camp or in a training area this year.

The Defence Ministry said that the body of First Warrant Officer (1WO) Rajendran Pachemuthu, who was a trainer at the Engineers Training Institute, was found by two civilian contractors who were doing maintenance work on SAF training equipment.

Mindef added that no SAF training had been conducted in the area in the last two days.

The contractors who discovered 1WO Rajendran's body reported the incident to Master Warrant Officer Ong Chin Sai, a commander from the Engineers Training Institute, who rushed to the site. He lodged a police report at 12.20pm.

Five minutes later, ambulances from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and SAF arrived.

"The SCDF paramedic pronounced 1WO Rajendran dead on site," said Mindef, which said it had extended its deepest condolences to the dead soldier's family and was assisting them during their time of grief.

The Lentor training area is usually used by troops to practise battle manoeuvres. The police are investigating.

HELPLINES
Samaritans of Singapore (SOS):	1800-2214444
Singapore Association for Mental Health:	1800-2837019
Sage Counselling Centre:	1800-5555555
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