January 10, 2023, 05:41 PM
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The contractor that erected the funeral wake tent on a service road at Henderson Road will be summoned.
Funeral wake tent obstructed and impeded SCDF
The tent was found to have impeded the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers, which included the fallen full-time National Serviceman Edward Go.
They were responding to a firefighting operation at Block 91 Henderson Road on Dec. 8, 2022 when Go fell unconscious and subsequently passed away on the same day.
In his response to questions from Members of Parliament, Minister of State for Home Affairs Faishal Ibrahim said on Jan. 9, 2023 that the funeral wake tent was found to have delayed SCDF officers by as much as 18 minutes.
The officers had to remove the bollards that were padlocked to the ground near the tent to create an alternate access path to Block 91 Henderson Road as it was obstructing the fire engine accessway.
In a video shared with Mothership, the funeral wake tent could be seen extending out of the multipurpose service hall.
SCDF vehicles had to wait behind the tent as officers could be seen unlocking and removing the bollards.
However, investigations into the cause of Go's death are still ongoing and Faishal said: "So I will not make any assumptions or speculation regarding the investigation."
Gif adapted from video by Linus Chen.
Funeral wake tent obstructed and impeded SCDF
A Tanjong Pagar Town Council (TPTC) spokesperson responded to Mothership's queries, saying that the tent was set up on the evening of Dec. 7, hours before the fire at Block 91 Henderson Road at around 11:10am on Dec. 8, 2022.
The third-party contractor was engaged by a family member of the deceased, and erected the tent for the funeral procession on the service road.
"There are signages on-site to inform the public to keep service roads free of obstruction," said the TPTC spokesperson, who added that the town council's by-laws list the rules for the use of common property, and that its officers also conduct regular inspections on the ground.
The town council spokesperson did not name the contractor or the details of the summons.
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Top image from Linus Chen
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