Another case of NS recruit sudden death

An Army recruit collapsed and died on Pulau Tekong yesterday morning, barely five days into his national service. 20 year old Andrew Cheah Wei Siong, who graduated from the Nanyang Polytechnic three weeks ago today, was then doing a 2km training walk at the Basic Military Training Centre on the island.

He enlisted last Thursday and was placed on an enhanced 15 week basic military training (BMT) programme meant for mildly obese recruits. The polytechnic graduate fainted at 8.35am while he was taking part in a 2km walk. He was given immediate medical attention by doctors. Mr Cheah is also understood to have had asthma when he was young.

At 9.24am, Mr Cheah was evacuated by helicopter to the Singapore General Hospital but not evacuated to Changi General Hospital due to air traffic conditions & some other factors. Medical staff from the Singapore Armed Forces continued to resuscitate him en route. However, they failed to revive him and he was pronounced dead at 10.50am at SGH.

His sudden death was a huge shock to his family. His friends from the polytechnic, where he studied information technology, and former classmates from Yuan Ching Secondary School were also jolted by the tragic news. The Defence Ministry is still investigating the incident.