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The charred interior of the flat (seen here) in which the family (next picture) lived and in which the two children died, and (picture 3) a walkway roof which was damaged when father Mr Ng plunged to his death from the 12th storey. — ST PHOTOS: DESMOND FOO, LIANHE WANBAO

A MAN fell 12 storeys to his death on Saturday night as a fire raged in the flat in which his two young children lay dead in their bedroom.

Neighbours in Ang Mo Kio Avenue10 heard two explosions at about 9.50pm and saw thick, black smoke billowing out of the sixth floor unit in Block543.

As some of them scrambled out of their flats and gathered on the ground floor below, they looked up and saw Mr Ng Chee Kiang, 39, falling from the parapet on the 12th floor.

Firefighters broke into the blazing flat and found the siblings lying face-up, side by side, on a bed in their bedroom. Neither had a pulse, nor were they breathing.

It is not clear how Xavier Ng Wei Yi, five, and Cheryl Ng Shi Hui, three, died, but their bodies were not burnt and the fire was largely restricted to the living room.

Early investigations show that the fire appears to have started on the living room sofa. The children’s bedroom door was shut but not locked.

Mr Ng, a restaurant manager, was sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, but died from his injuries two hours later.

Police are investigating the three deaths.

The Straits Times understands that the children’s mother, Madam Ong Lay Choo, 28, and the family’s maid, were out when the fire broke out.

Neighbours said they saw the maid running towards the block as the fire engines arrived.

Madam Ong, a saleswoman, returned shortly afterwards and was seen screaming at her husband’s body on the ground floor.

Secretary Joyce Chia, 45, said: ‘She cried in Mandarin ‘Why did you have to take my children along?’.’

She later fainted and had to be supported by relatives and paramedics.

Earlier, neighbours interviewed by The Straits Times said they had seen Mr Ng, wearing a red checkered T-shirt and boxer shorts, standing on the 12th floor parapet. He sat and lay down several times before falling from the landing.

A housewife, who gave her name only as Madam Lim, said: ‘He was there for at least five minutes and people were trying to talk him into coming down. Then, he flipped and fell.’

School pupil Valeria Au, 11, who lives on the floor below the Ngs said she heard the sound of furniture being dragged at about 9.30pm. A seventh floor neighbour said he heard shouting from the unit.

Neighbours said the couple, who moved in about six years ago, kept mostly to themselves, though they often invited friends over to celebrate their children’s birthdays.

Others said Mr Ng was mostly at home in recent weeks, and they thought he had lost his job. Neighbours also said loan sharks had on occasion scribbled ‘O$P$’ – their signature for pressuring debtors to pay up – on the stairway wall beside Mr Ng’s unit. There is a closed circuit TV camera – usually used to capture images of loan sharks – outside his flat.

At the flat yesterday, the windows were broken and the rooms black with soot. Part of the living room ceiling had collapsed and the sofa was badly scorched.

In the morning, Madam Ong and about 10 relatives identified the children’s bodies in the mortuary. She broke down and had to be supported by relatives.

mavistoh@sph.com.sg

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