Two persons dead in 2 days at Seletar Reservoir

[Anonymous]

May 28, 2007
Man missing after kayak accident at Lower Seletar
By K.C. Vijayan

Madam Noorliza (centre) is comforted by MP Lee (left) during the search efforts. — AZIZ HUSSIN

A 32-YEAR-old man is missing after the kayak he shared with his wife capsized in Lower Seletar Reservoir yesterday, barely two weeks after a new water sports facility there was opened.
This was also the first accident at a reservoir since activities such as kayaking and other water sports were progressively introduced in reservoirs from October 2004

A major search was activated after Mr Khoka Mohammed Burhan disappeared at about noon into the waters some 15m off a golf course shoreline at the Orchid Country Club in Yishun.

Mr Burhan and his wife, Madam Noorliza Yahya, 27 – who both wore life vests – were in the double-seater kayak when it suddenly capsized.

The weather was fine at the time of the accident.

The couple had hired the kayak from the PA Water-Venture outlet at about 11.15am.

But they apparently rowed out of sight from the outlet to the waters off the country club on the opposite side of the reservoir, where the accident happened.

When the kayak capsized, Mr Burhan apparently managed to push his wife onto the boat, while he kept on swimming in the water. But he could not keep up and suddenly just stopped and disappeared.

It is understood he may have lost strength, having rowed the boat for some distance before the mishap happened.

His life jacket had apparently loosened and was later recovered.

Madam Noorliza then struggled to steer the kayak towards the shore and waded onto an embankment.

There, she became hysterical, and her repeated screams of distress were heard by a worker some 40m away, who had been working at the golf pitch.

‘I ran down to her and saw she was crying very loudly,’ said the 39-year-old worker.

‘She said she wanted to call for help, and I lent her my handphone,’ he said.

At about 12.15pm, some 20 Singapore Civil Defence Force officers arrived at the scene, including divers from the Disaster and Rescue Team, together with two amphibious vehicles.

They combed an area within a 15m radius where the man had disappeared.

Later in the afternoon, at about 2.30pm, the search broadened as divers from the SAF Naval Diving Unit joined in the search.

Meanwhile, scores of policemen fanned outwards on both sides of the shoreline to search for the missing man as well.

Mr Burhan’s wife kept sobbing and was comforted by her father, siblings and others who kept watch at the scene.

A relative told The Straits Times: ‘She kept repeating, ‘My husband called me, my husband called me’.’

Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Lee Bee Wah arrived in the afternoon and helped console the woman.

She later told The Straits Times: ‘The family has asked us not to stop searching until we find him. We will do our best.’

The MP added: ‘This is very unfortunate. The paddle centre just opened two weeks ago and this has happened.’

Ms Lee said the missing man’s wife told her they loved sea sports and this was their second trip there. It is understood that they hired the kayak for two hours instead of the usual one hour.

‘She told me he was a very strong swimmer,’ added Ms Lee.

Madam Noorliza, who is Singaporean, and Mr Burhan, who is an Indian national and a permanent resident, got married about a year ago. They do not have any children.

Police spokesman Stanley Norbert said the search was called off last night because of the darkness and for safety reasons.

The search will resume this morning. Public rentals at the water sports facility at the reservoir have been suspended.

vijayan@sph.com.sg

---

Another body found in Lower Seletar Reservoir

A woman’s body has been found in Lower Seletar Reservoir. She is believed to be in her fifties. — ST

POLICE say another body has been found in Lower Seletar Reservoir.
They had received several calls about the second body. According to eye witnesses at the scene, the body is believed to be a woman in her fifties.

The woman was found lying face downed with three-quarters of her body submerged in water.

She was wearing a red dress with white polka dots.

Eyewitnesses at the scene described the deceased as having a dark complexion with grey shoulder length hair.

Separately, Police had been searching for a man who had disappeared after his kayak capsized in the reservoir on Sunday.

His body was found at about 11.15am on Monday, off the waters near Orchid Country Club.

---

Key questions to ponder for 1st case

1) The man was just married, and was said to be a strong swimmer
2) He took off his life jacket (or it became losse)
3) He has said to have turn over the canoe and put his wife back on the canoe and then help to push the canoe. Later the wife is able to paddle to safety
4) Water at Lower Seletar Reservoir are known to be calm (?)

Why is the life jacket removed?
Why didn’t he hold on to the canoe?

In Shin Min news, he is said to have shouted, something is pulling me down.

[Anonymous]

Apparently there are still question marks in this article besides those asked by fengshui: why all the “sudden”? (suddenly the boat capsize, suddenly he stopped and disappeared, suddenly everything seemed ok again and wife started to seek for help)

As to the answers to fengshui’s question:
1. A strong swimmer may still face difficulties in natural waters. One might be invincible in the swimming pool, but natural waters are different. So, there can still be a chance of accident in here. But what troubled my mind is how he could give up so easily.
2. A struggle might cause the life jacket to disband itself from the body, especially if it was not well adjusted in the first place. Life jackets are a hassle sometimes, they seemed to keep a person afloat, but at the same time I experienced the feeling of entanglement while wearing a life jacket, knowing that I could float better without it in a way.
3. Which way was the canoe suppose to be? upside down or downside up? Under what circumstances did it capsize in the first place?
4. Calm waters might still have turbulence. Any form of movement within the water may trigger waves, it only depends to what degrees. There’s water and there’s wind, and there’s also other kinetic movements caused by the rowing of boats in the reservoir. We can always see just how a stir in a cup can cause ripples to stay for quite some time, with the waves bouncing back and forth the middle and edges.

Do you rule out foul play in this incident? Is it common to kayak out of sight?

[Anonymous]

Any type of swimmer can face difficulties in any type of water, due to many reasons. Maybe there wasn’t enuf warm up done prior to the start of a form of exercise, which can result in cramps.

A person, in the midst of falling down and knocking himself / herself unconscious, can and will drown, even in a puddle of water an inch high. This is common knowledge.

Life jackets are life savers – even experienced seamen needs them to keep afloat for hours if help is not near. In cold freezing waters, a human body will have shock within minutes and you won’t be able to keep afloat without the help of any floating apparatus.

[Anonymous]

yes u are rite jugge… even the good swimmer also can died…. heath attach…. or it can be other reason also…

[Anonymous]

@shany wrote:

yes u are rite jugge… even the good swimmer also can died…. heath attach…. or it can be other reason also…

Possible there were vegetation under the water that got him entangled as well.

[Author]

Posts

[Anonymous]

May 28, 2007
Man missing after kayak accident at Lower Seletar
By K.C. Vijayan

Madam Noorliza (centre) is comforted by MP Lee (left) during the search efforts. — AZIZ HUSSIN

A 32-YEAR-old man is missing after the kayak he shared with his wife capsized in Lower Seletar Reservoir yesterday, barely two weeks after a new water sports facility there was opened.
This was also the first accident at a reservoir since activities such as kayaking and other water sports were progressively introduced in reservoirs from October 2004

A major search was activated after Mr Khoka Mohammed Burhan disappeared at about noon into the waters some 15m off a golf course shoreline at the Orchid Country Club in Yishun.

Mr Burhan and his wife, Madam Noorliza Yahya, 27 – who both wore life vests – were in the double-seater kayak when it suddenly capsized.

The weather was fine at the time of the accident.

The couple had hired the kayak from the PA Water-Venture outlet at about 11.15am.

But they apparently rowed out of sight from the outlet to the waters off the country club on the opposite side of the reservoir, where the accident happened.

When the kayak capsized, Mr Burhan apparently managed to push his wife onto the boat, while he kept on swimming in the water. But he could not keep up and suddenly just stopped and disappeared.

It is understood he may have lost strength, having rowed the boat for some distance before the mishap happened.

His life jacket had apparently loosened and was later recovered.

Madam Noorliza then struggled to steer the kayak towards the shore and waded onto an embankment.

There, she became hysterical, and her repeated screams of distress were heard by a worker some 40m away, who had been working at the golf pitch.

‘I ran down to her and saw she was crying very loudly,’ said the 39-year-old worker.

‘She said she wanted to call for help, and I lent her my handphone,’ he said.

At about 12.15pm, some 20 Singapore Civil Defence Force officers arrived at the scene, including divers from the Disaster and Rescue Team, together with two amphibious vehicles.

They combed an area within a 15m radius where the man had disappeared.

Later in the afternoon, at about 2.30pm, the search broadened as divers from the SAF Naval Diving Unit joined in the search.

Meanwhile, scores of policemen fanned outwards on both sides of the shoreline to search for the missing man as well.

Mr Burhan’s wife kept sobbing and was comforted by her father, siblings and others who kept watch at the scene.

A relative told The Straits Times: ‘She kept repeating, ‘My husband called me, my husband called me’.’

Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Lee Bee Wah arrived in the afternoon and helped console the woman.

She later told The Straits Times: ‘The family has asked us not to stop searching until we find him. We will do our best.’

The MP added: ‘This is very unfortunate. The paddle centre just opened two weeks ago and this has happened.’

Ms Lee said the missing man’s wife told her they loved sea sports and this was their second trip there. It is understood that they hired the kayak for two hours instead of the usual one hour.

‘She told me he was a very strong swimmer,’ added Ms Lee.

Madam Noorliza, who is Singaporean, and Mr Burhan, who is an Indian national and a permanent resident, got married about a year ago. They do not have any children.

Police spokesman Stanley Norbert said the search was called off last night because of the darkness and for safety reasons.

The search will resume this morning. Public rentals at the water sports facility at the reservoir have been suspended.

vijayan@sph.com.sg

---

Another body found in Lower Seletar Reservoir

A woman’s body has been found in Lower Seletar Reservoir. She is believed to be in her fifties. — ST

POLICE say another body has been found in Lower Seletar Reservoir.
They had received several calls about the second body. According to eye witnesses at the scene, the body is believed to be a woman in her fifties.

The woman was found lying face downed with three-quarters of her body submerged in water.

She was wearing a red dress with white polka dots.

Eyewitnesses at the scene described the deceased as having a dark complexion with grey shoulder length hair.

Separately, Police had been searching for a man who had disappeared after his kayak capsized in the reservoir on Sunday.

His body was found at about 11.15am on Monday, off the waters near Orchid Country Club.

---

Key questions to ponder for 1st case

1) The man was just married, and was said to be a strong swimmer
2) He took off his life jacket (or it became losse)
3) He has said to have turn over the canoe and put his wife back on the canoe and then help to push the canoe. Later the wife is able to paddle to safety
4) Water at Lower Seletar Reservoir are known to be calm (?)

Why is the life jacket removed?
Why didn’t he hold on to the canoe?

In Shin Min news, he is said to have shouted, something is pulling me down.

[Anonymous]

Apparently there are still question marks in this article besides those asked by fengshui: why all the “sudden”? (suddenly the boat capsize, suddenly he stopped and disappeared, suddenly everything seemed ok again and wife started to seek for help)

As to the answers to fengshui’s question:
1. A strong swimmer may still face difficulties in natural waters. One might be invincible in the swimming pool, but natural waters are different. So, there can still be a chance of accident in here. But what troubled my mind is how he could give up so easily.
2. A struggle might cause the life jacket to disband itself from the body, especially if it was not well adjusted in the first place. Life jackets are a hassle sometimes, they seemed to keep a person afloat, but at the same time I experienced the feeling of entanglement while wearing a life jacket, knowing that I could float better without it in a way.
3. Which way was the canoe suppose to be? upside down or downside up? Under what circumstances did it capsize in the first place?
4. Calm waters might still have turbulence. Any form of movement within the water may trigger waves, it only depends to what degrees. There’s water and there’s wind, and there’s also other kinetic movements caused by the rowing of boats in the reservoir. We can always see just how a stir in a cup can cause ripples to stay for quite some time, with the waves bouncing back and forth the middle and edges.

Do you rule out foul play in this incident? Is it common to kayak out of sight?

[Anonymous]

Any type of swimmer can face difficulties in any type of water, due to many reasons. Maybe there wasn’t enuf warm up done prior to the start of a form of exercise, which can result in cramps.

A person, in the midst of falling down and knocking himself / herself unconscious, can and will drown, even in a puddle of water an inch high. This is common knowledge.

Life jackets are life savers – even experienced seamen needs them to keep afloat for hours if help is not near. In cold freezing waters, a human body will have shock within minutes and you won’t be able to keep afloat without the help of any floating apparatus.

[Anonymous]

yes u are rite jugge… even the good swimmer also can died…. heath attach…. or it can be other reason also…

[Anonymous]

@shany wrote:

yes u are rite jugge… even the good swimmer also can died…. heath attach…. or it can be other reason also…

Possible there were vegetation under the water that got him entangled as well.

[Author]

Posts