The deaths of two SAF service personnel in July and Sept. 2018 were due to unnatural causes unrelated to service, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen stated in Parliament on April 1.

Ng added that "the State Coroner found that there was no evidence of foul play and that the deaths were deliberate acts of suicide".

Ng made the remarks in reply to a question by Workers' Party (WP) MP Dennis Tan Lip Fong

Tan asked what the causes of their deaths were, whether their deaths were related to the course of service and if there was an awareness on the part of their colleagues, of issues that might have had a bearing on their deaths.

What happened?

On July 28, 2018, an off-duty SAF regular servicemen was found hanging from a rope in his bunk at Nee Soon Camp, MINDEF stated in a press release.

He was pronounced dead on site at 3.06PM.

Subsequently, for the second case on Sept. 28, 2018, a full-time National Serviceman (NSF) -- a transport operator from 706 squadron -- was also found hanging from a rope in his office at Sembawang Air Base at 8.22am, MINDEF reported in a press release.

The NSF was pronounced dead on site at 8.31am by a SAF medical officer.

Deliberate acts of suicide

In elaborating on the investigations into their deaths, Ng stated that the Coroner did not find evidence of foul play.

These were the findings that the State Coroner had arrived at after the submission of Police investigations to ascertain the causes and circumstances connected with the two deaths.

In further explaining why the causes were unrelated to service, Ng said:

"The State Coroner did not identify any contributory factors related to their commanders or colleagues, NS or work that could have led to the incident."

Here's the deaths that have occurred so far:

Top image screenshot from Gov.sg YouTube