[UPDATE at 3:22pm: The headline and end section of this article has been modified to reflect the wishes of the late soldier's siblings.]

Gavin Chan, a 21-year-old full-time national serviceman, died tragically on Friday, Sept. 15, while on overseas training in Queensland, Australia.

He was there on the annual Exercise Wallaby, a unilateral training exercise between Singapore and Australia which involves many NSFs.

Vehicle landed on its side

A vehicle commander from the 41st Singapore Armoured Regiment, 3SG Chan was guiding a Bionix infantry fighting vehicle, which looks like this:

It was heading out of difficult terrain when it landed on its side, and Chan was found unconscious next to it. The driver and two soldiers inside the vehicle were unharmed, though.

Chan received medical attention from an Singapore Armed Forces medic and two medical officers, and was then evacuated via helicopter to Rockhampton hospital.

However, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 10.36pm Singapore time.

Flown home on Tuesday evening

The SAF said in a statement on Saturday that they had flown the parents of the late NSF over to Queensland, and they accompanied Chan's body on a plane back to Singapore on Tuesday.

They received an honour guard at Rockhampton airport before the plane took off:

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And it landed back in Singapore by 6pm, according to the SAF:

 

On Saturday, Sept. 23, the late Chan will receive the honours of a military funeral.

(Editor's note: A previous version of this story said the siblings of the late Gavin Chan were welcoming members of the public to pay respects to Chan. We were subsequently informed by them, via MINDEF, that this message was misconstrued and it was not intended to be open to everyone in Singapore; they were merely inviting their own friends to attend the wake. We have accordingly adjusted this article to reflect this.)

Top photo by Tan Jing Heng

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