On Aug. 25, a 46-year-old woman died after she was trapped under the rear wheel of a bus along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.
The lady, who was a Malaysian, left behind her son and daughter who reside in Perak, Malaysia.
Victim's family was back in Malaysia
According to Shin Min Daily News, the deceased, Guo Mingju, was on her way to work in Sembawang at around 6am when she met with an accident.
Her son, 23-year-old Huang Shijun, and daughter, 19-year-old Huang Peiyan, who were in Perak, Malaysia, were in disbelief when they received the news at 10am that morning.
After calming down, her son contacted his aunt for help to travel to Singapore.
As the two did not have much savings, they borrowed RM 18,600 (S$6,000) from family and friends to cover the cost for their Stay-Home Notice (SHN) when they arrived in Singapore.
Only had six hours to take care of funeral matters
The next day (Aug. 26), they arrived in Singapore after a seven-hour car ride and began their isolation for 14 days.
On Aug. 29, they managed to gain approval from the authorities to be allowed to go out for six hours to take care of their mother's funeral matters.
During this time, they went to the funeral home at Sin Ming where they saw their mother one last time before cremating the body that night.
The siblings also visited the accident site to perform some prayers in the drizzle.
Image via Shin Min Daily News.
Their mother was saving up to buy a house
The siblings told Shin Min Daily News that their mother had been working hard to earn money to support the family.
She was even saving up to pay for a down payment for a house in Malaysia, the son revealed, choking up with tears.
Now that Guo's son and daughter are both working, they hoped to reduce the financial burden on their mother.
But they never expected something like this to happen.
Guo's son revealed that due to the pandemic, they had not seen their mother for two years.
He said that the last time he contacted his mother was on Aug. 11 when she asked him to pay some bills.
Struggling to cover expenses
Due to their isolation period, they spent about S$400 on a special service vehicle when handling their mother's funeral matters, according to Shin Min Daily News.
In addition, SHN also amounted to S$3,400, excluding funeral expenses and other accommodation costs to be settled as well.
The costs added up to RM18,600 (S$6,000) and since they did not earn much, this was far beyond their means.
Not only that, the siblings will have to be quarantined again when they return to Malaysia, raising concerns about losing their jobs.
Mothership understands from a relative that Guo's children have since raised enough funds to cover their expenses and would appreciate some time alone.
"We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family. We apologise that we were not able to get in touch with them earlier as we did not have their contact details. We were only able to establish contact when a relative called us over the weekend. We are now in touch with the son and are rendering financial assistance and support during this difficult time," said SBS Transit's senior vice president of corporate communication, Tammy Tan.
Top image via Shin Min Daily News.