S'pore boy, 6, hit by buggy at Korean airport, suffers eye fracture & other injuries, airline investigating

A Singaporean family is appealing for eyewitnesses after their son was allegedly hit by an airport buggy at South Korea's Incheon International Airport.

In an Instagram post on Jun. 18, Khoo Boon Wee, father of three, said the incident occurred the previous day while the family was waiting to board Korean Air flight KE645 back to Singapore.

According to Khoo, his son Kyle had gone to the toilet by himself while the rest of the family looked after their other children nearby.

As neither parent witnessed the incident, they are now seeking passengers who may have seen what happened.

Suffered concussion and facial injuries

Khoo said the accident left Kyle with multiple injuries, including a concussion and facial injuries.

Medical scans conducted in South Korea apparently found that Kyle had sustained a fracture of his right orbital roof, which is located at the top of the eye socket, as well as other facial injuries.

Photos attached by Khoo showed the young boy with a bandage on his head and arm, several bruises on his face and a black eye.

According to Khoo, Korean Air staff were "prompt to react" after the incident and offered assistance, including accompanying the family to the hospital, arranging accommodation, and alternative flights.

Allegedly declined to provide accident report

However, Khoo alleged that the airline declined to provide an official accident report documenting the incident.

Khoo said the family wanted a formal report so they could request that Incheon Airport preserve CCTV footage of the incident in case Kyle's condition worsened.

He also claimed that airline staff insisted that their "liability is limited to their goodwill gesture in Korea", but that they "cannot be liable for the expenses in Singapore".

"As they showed genuine interest and care at the start, we thought they were going to be responsible till the end, hence we only decided on the quickest way back home once Kyle was medically approved to travel back," he wrote.

Khoo reiterated his appeal for witnesses who may have seen the incident near Gate 221 to contact him or his wife, Jeslyn Lee, through Facebook.

Protecting against future effects

Khoo wrote in further Instagram stories that he will be seeking claims from their travel insurance but explained that they should still get an incident report so they can seek a resolution for any "permanent or future effects of the trauma attributed to the accident".

He also explained that they did not call the police immediately in Korea, as "everything happened quickly" and they were tending to Kyle first.

"Kyle usually needs the least attention, but he ran to me immediately after impact and he was shivering in my embrace for 40mins until the flight left," he wrote.

The Korean Air staff guided them out of the customs and called a taxi to bring them to the hospital, he said.

This was after airport paramedics assessed that Kyle did not need an ambulance.

They were then arranged to take the next flight out to Singapore the next day at 1:50pm (Korean time).

When Khoo tried to report the incident at the airport the next day, they were directed back to the Korean Air staff, who allegedly got defensive and asked why they thought the airline was at fault.

She allegedly added that Kyle was already looking "so much better" that day.

As Khoo didn't want to extend the trip any longer for the family of six, he decided to get back home as soon as possible without managing to make a police report.

Korean Air's response

In response to Mothership's queries, Korean Air said on Jun. 19 that it is currently investigating the circumstances of the incident.

"We will respond to the customer's requests upon completing our internal review," the airline said.

Mothership has reached out to Khoo for more information.

Top image via okayden on Instagram