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A YOUNG Malaysian worker drowned when the lorry on which live fish had been loaded slid backwards into the sea, trapping him and his two colleagues in the cargo area.
While Mr Goh Ching Went's two colleagues managed to jump into the sea off Sarimbun Scout Camp and were rescued, the 22-year-old Sheng Siong supermarket worker drowned on July 12 last year.
His colleagues had shouted to Mr Goh to jump too but he did not. His body was recovered from the cargohold by Singapore Civil Defence officers some three hours later.
An inquiry into Mr Goh's death heard that it was a practice for the supermarket staff to park the lorry on the shore with the handbrake in a locked position.
Rocks would be placed behind the tyres of the lorry to prevent it from sliding backwards.
The driver, Mr Chua Kim Swee, 51, told police he had been driving and parking at the location three times a week for the past two years.
This was the first time that the vehicle had slid downwards towards the sea.
The lorry was able to carry loads of up to 10 tons.
On that day, only two containers of live fish weighing 400kg were loaded.
Mr Goh's father, Mr Goh Sing Kong, 51, a Malaysian boiler foreman working in Singapore, who was at the scene of the accident, attended the inquiry on Thursday.
He described his son, the second of three children, as filial and obedient.
'He was a good boy. He supported the family. My wife still feels very sad and cries whenever his name is mentioned,' he said.
State Coroner Victor Yeo recorded a verdict of misadventure on his death.
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