by Amanda Yong

THE EMPTY cab sat in the same solitary spot the whole day, appearing almost abandoned.

The advertisement it was wearing like a second skin was for the title of a Shakespearean play, one of the Bard's frothiest: Much Ado About Nothing.

But the events that took place in that same cab yesterday morning was a tragedy worthy of one of the playwright's finest.

There was a sudden death in that cab.

The tragedy began when the cab driver picked up his neighbours, a pair of newlyweds. The husband was headed to the Singapore General Hospital for his routine medical check-up.

But the couple never arrived at their destination. Instead, the husband appeared to have a fit, lost consciousness, and slipped away, his young wife by his side in the cab.

Veteran cabby Mr Kuah, who is in his 50s, was at the wheel.

He became a friend to the couple because he would always ferry the dead man's in-laws on festive visits, errands and hospital appointments. He never charged them the full fare.

The passenger, Mr Muhammad Ghazali, 35, died moments after he got into the cab.

Sitting next to him was his wife of two months. She was too distraught to speak to reporters yesterday.

Breathing difficulties

But Mr Kuah told The New Paper last night that when he stopped his taxi near the entrance of Mr Muhammad Ghazali's ground-floor flat, he could see that the latter was already having difficulty breathing.

Mr Muhammad Ghazali was sitting with his wife outside his unit at Block 610, Woodlands Avenue 4, while waiting for Mr Kuah's cab to arrive. Despite his breathlessness, he managed to walk to the cab unaided. But once inside the cab, he started to convulse.

'His breathing became more laboured, his tongue was rolling and the whites of his eyes were showing,' said Mr Kuah in Mandarin.

Mr Kuah had initially planned to take them to the nearest hospital, but made an about-turn when he reached Woodlands Avenue 5, a few minutes away from Mr Muhammad Ghazali's block.

'He (Mr Muhammad Ghazali) looked like he was in a terrible state, so I thought I had better drive him back home and call the ambulance,' Mr Kuah said.

He was worried he would not be able to arrive at the hospital in time because of the morning peak-hour traffic jams.

But by the time Mr Kuah had driven to where he had earlier picked them up, Mr Muhammad Ghazali had lost consciousness.

'His wife tried to revive him by giving him CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and I also tried to pinch his hand to wake him up, but nothing worked,' Mr Kuah said.

Police confirmed that they received a call at 8.30am seeking assistance. When police officers arrived, they found him motionless in the cab. He was pronounced dead by paramedics at 9.10am, a police spokesman said.

Earlier, at around 7.30am, Mr Kuah received a call from Mr Muhammad Ghazali's father-in-law.

Said Mr Kuah: 'He asked if I could pick up his son-in-law and send him to the SGH for a medical check-up scheduled for 8.30am.'

Mr Kuah agreed. He thought nothing of it because Mr Kuah, who lives in the block next to Mr Muhammad Ghazali, would frequently drive the latter's family whenever they asked for a ride.

Before yesterday, Mr Kuah had been regularly ferrying Mr Muhammad Ghazali's mother-in-law to hospital until she died of kidney failure about a year ago.

Regular customers

Mr Kuah got to know Mr Muhammad Ghazali's in-laws about five years ago when the latter moved into the neighbourhood.

They would frequently hire his cab when they needed to go out, especially during festive occasions like Hari Raya.

When Mr Muhammad Ghazali's mother-in-law's health started failing, Mr Kuah would drive her to hospital for her thrice-weekly medical appointments.

Never once did he charge her or her family the full cab fare.

Said Mr Kuah: 'The family isn't rich and his (Mr Muhammad Ghazali's) father-in-law works as a school janitor, so I didn't mind at all.'

Mr Muhammad Ghazali's father-in-law had previously worked as a security guard, Mr Kuah added.

Mr Muhammad Ghazali, who tipped the scales at around 120kg and stood at around 1.8m tall, was also a security guard.

He and his wife, who works at her sister's shop, had a whirlwind courtship - they dated for two months before they wed.

Mr Kuah said he attended their wedding at the void deck of their flat two months ago. That was also the first time he had met Mr Muhammad Ghazali, who moved into his in-laws' flat.

At the flat last night, Mr Muhammad Ghazali's sister-in-law said the family did not know the cause of the death.

She added: 'The medical check-up was a regular one and he did not have any health problems. My sister is still in mourning.'

Meanwhile, Mr Kuah sought his own form of closure.

After the incident, the cabby was seen burning incense paper and lighting joss sticks near the spot where Mr Muhammad Ghazali died.

'I want to pay my respects (to the deceased),' he told Lianhe Wanbao as he bowed his head.

This article was first published in The New Paper.