Full time NSman dies after being pinned by Land Rover during inspection
By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 03 July 2009 1952 hrs

SINGAPORE: Full-time National Serviceman Second Lieutenant (2LT) Nicholas Chan Wei Kit died in hospital on Friday after a Land Rover he was inspecting rolled backwards and hit him, pinning him under the vehicle.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence says 2LT Chan, a Motor Transport Officer, was taking delivery of the SAF Land Rover in Seletar Camp at about 11.30am when the incident happened.

A recovery vehicle was activated half an hour later and managed to lift the Land Rover.

A medical team from the Seletar Medical Centre attempted to resuscitate 2LT Chan immediately. He was sent to Changi General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1.07pm.

Mindef and the SAF extend their deepest condolences to the family of the late 2LT Chan.

Mindef says it will assist the family in their time of grief. It is also investigating the incident.

- CNA/ir

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin.../440208/1/.html

heard about it in the afternoon today - have been having ict at seletar. but could not discuss it until reported in open domain. a freak accident, and what a waste of life; my condolences to the MTO's family.

Today, bad day, one ang moh committed suicide by jumping from the Fusionopolis head first at 1400 hrs.

My deep condolences to the young officer's family ... this shouldn't have happened

I've covered several military deaths previously and my heart goes out to the family of the late 2LT Chan.

Having read the MINDEF statement, I wonder why the job of lifting the Landy took an hour and required the help of a recovery vehicle.

A 1.5T capacity tyre jack would have provided sufficient ground clearance between the axles and ground.

I guessing here, but I think the CAAS fire crew at Seletar would have had air bags which could have lifted the Landy as an interim measure.

Death of Serviceman
Posted: 03 Jul 2009, 1915 hours (Time is GMT +8 hours)

A full-time National Serviceman (NSF), Second Lieutenant (2LT) Chan Wei Kit Nicholas, a Motor Transport Officer, was taking delivery of a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Land Rover in Seletar Camp at about 11.30am. The Land Rover had been sent there for servicing. 2LT Chan was inspecting the vehicle when it rolled backwards and hit him. 2LT Chan was found pinned under the vehicle.

A recovery vehicle was activated at about 12.00pm and managed to lift the Land Rover at 12.30pm. A medical team comprising an SAF doctor and two medics from the Seletar Medical Centre attempted to resuscitate 2LT Chan immediately. He was sent to the Changi General Hospital (CGH) at about 12.35pm and he arrived at the hospital at about 12.50pm. The SAF doctor and medics continued their attempts to resuscitate him en route to the hospital. 2LT Chan was pronounced dead at 1.07pm at CGH.

The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the SAF extend their deepest condolences to the family of the late 2LT Chan. MINDEF will assist the family in their time of grief and is investigating the incident.

Last updated on 03 Jul 2009

Find this article at:
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_...03jul09_nr.html

i've not had the chance to speak to any witnesses, but i have a feeling i know where it happened. there are not many slopes/ramps where an LR could roll back with such force it could fatally pin down its inspecting MTO.

even if it couldn't be jacked up, they could simply have found perhaps 20 or 30 men to physically lift up the LR. it's not exactly a tank that ran over him. but maybe that was not possible and recovery veh was the only way... we'll have to wait for further revelations. his loved ones at the very least deserve the full account.

btw, a recovery vehicle is not something that is generally available on immediate notice - even if one is based nearby, and there are a few in seletar camp. the procedure is intended for broken/bogged-down vehicles whose crew can afford to wait hours, not a pinned-down, dying officer. it's a somewhat tedious process through the chain of command to activate one of those things, and then a qualified driver/operator may not be found so quickly.

I agree.. 1 hour is kinda long, that guy must've been in agony. After all, it's not a very heavy vehicle. We'll have to see what the investigation comes up with

If he still had a pulse while under that Landy, then shouldn't remedial measures have arrived much sooner?

We still have a long way to go before becoming a 3rd Gen fighting force, no?

I'll holdout for more information before commenting further.

But I have to say this: it riles me greatly when I feel the system lets down the very servicemen who serve it with dedication.


I was going to turn in early until I saw this thread. Anyway, I'll be at Kallang (National Stadium) tomorrow morning watching the M3s deploy if anyone wants to stir coffee on a Saturday morning.

Damn... :(

RIP..

Recovery vehicle duty personnel are supposed to be on standby 24/7. However, I wonder why the SCDF personnel could not have been activated, and sooner, after all, road accidents happen and these are reacted to in pretty quick timing, definitely much less than 1 hour.

I can't imagine the feeling the poor chap must have been in for over an hour, being crushed.. and if inspection is done on the elevated platforms, why would it roll down (should not have happened).

This is ridiculous, I had personally seen a cyclist getting dragged and pinned underneath the tyre of a bus at Lim Chu Kang a couple of years back and it took the SCDF no more than 30 minutes to extract him.

We've to ask why the SCDF were not called in, the rescue professional.

There's a need to rethink how rescue work is being done inhouse in the SAF.

I tot when I served NS 10 years ago, times were more dangerours. Ironically, there are more & more death reported recently.

I tot I have seen more injury at my times but now is even worse. I nearly lost my life in Lancer before For us who have survivied NS, lets treasure whatever we have & treat tomorrow as a God's Gift.

RIP.

couldn't have said it any better.

RIP

Was wondering about this too... Probably a brake test on a slope? Then a Brake failure? Or somebody in the vehicle accidentally release brake? Whatever the case, simply the thought of getting pinned for 1 hr under the vehicle just makes one shudder.. Frankly, as far as activation of recovery vehicles go, I don't see how 'a man is pinned down under a vehicle' should not be any reason enough to bypass any tedious procedural issues.

I don't think its something like procedure complication. its probably as simple as not being able to find the keys, or the operators, etc etc.

Jeep kills SAF officer
He is pinned for several minutes while doing routine check of stationary vehicle

By Kimberly Spykerman

AN ARMY officer was pinned under a Land Rover in a camp for several minutes before help came. Second Lieutenant Nicholas Chan Wei Kit, 21, a motor transport officer based at the Seletar Camp, died soon after he was taken to hospital on Friday afternoon.

He had been conducting a routine check of a Land Rover that had been sent to the camp for servicing at about 11.30am on Friday.

He was apparently bending down to check the vehicle's rear lights when the vehicle - which can weigh between one and two tonnes - rolled backwards and hit him, pinning him under its wheels.

The Defence Ministry would not say if he was alone at the time of the incident, or who discovered him under the vehicle. It is also not clear exactly how long 2LT Chan was stuck under the Land Rover.

But there was at least a gap of about 30 minutes between the time he took over the vehicle and the time a recovery vehicle - located within the grounds of the camp - was dispatched. The Land Rover was eventually lifted off 2LT Chan at 12.30pm - an hour after he had taken over the vehicle.

He was taken to Changi General Hospital, accompanied by a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) medical team, whose members were trying to revive him. 2LT Chan died of his injuries in the hospital shortly after 1pm.

It is understood that there was no one seated in the Land Rover at the time.

What remains unclear is whether the handbrake had been applied or wheelchokes put in place at the wheels to prevent it from moving accidentally. As part of the military's standard operating procedure, wheelchokes - blocks made of metal or wood - are placed at the base of the front and back tyres of stationary vehicles during servicing to prevent them from rolling backwards.

The driver of the vehicle is understood to be from another camp, although Mindef did not give details about him.

Mindef is investigating the officer's death, which is at least the seventh to hit the SAF so far this year.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNew...ory_398942.html




more details have been released in today's 90c paper report.

so it's confirmed that the recovery veh was located virtually next door... but as has been noted, any number of problems could have held up the vehicle - they are simply not meant for instant activation.

sigh… some one explain to the journalist the difference between a LR and a jeep, and that the "wheelchoke" is actually a wheel chock. <_<

My condolences to the family.

Safety first needs constant reminding. Lose life defending SG is one thing. Ai wan to lose life during NS.

Not the first time this has happened in Seletar liao..

Which is why I wonder.. why didn't the people onsite call 995 first?

As usual, Mindef only provide sketchy information of the incident. My assumption is perharps due to these factors or a combination:

Bad Judgement-Those ppl around think they can handle themshelves.

Poor Assessment of Situation-The ppl think things could not be so bad.

Broken Chain of Command-Assuming Lta Teo is the highest ranking there, the lower rank may not know how to react properly.

Anyway does anyone know what should be the correct protocol? Call SCDF immediately? So who should call SCDF? Notify Duty Officer?

was he alone? sorry, its hard to reconcile the long waiting time before his extraction from under the vehicle...

Call Medical Centre. MO will handle everything else from there, that's what the three bars on his shoulders are for.

During my BMT fieldcamp in Tekong, we stumbled into a snake (Looks like a Cobra) near our field camp area (Rubber Plantation) while doing some fatigue stuffs. We informed our Duty Instructor, NSF 3SG immediately. However, he just ask us to leave it alone & dun do anything. He claim the snake will go away by itself.

However, the snake moved nearer & nearer to our Basha area. At the moment, our CSM came along & some fellow takes the guts to inform him. He immediately get more people in to chase the snake away & screw us why we did not chase it away immediately. Of course, we daren't say is an earlier instruction from our DI.

Conclusion, CSM react the correct way to avoid further panic to the men while DI did the contary. Poor assessment of situation & bad judgement.

July 6, 2009

ARMY OFFICER KILLED BY LAND ROVER
Parents grieve death
Family has questions; Mindef says incident still being investigated
By Kimberly Spykerman


HE WAS their only child. And the parents of Second Lieutenant Nicholas Chan Wei Kit, 21, are still unable to believe their son is gone after his sudden death last Friday afternoon at Seletar Camp, in which an army land rover rolled back, pinning him underneath.

A recovery vehicle was dispatched, although the Defence Ministry did not say how soon after the accident, to lift the vehicle off him. But 2LT Chan died in hospital of his injuries - a little more than an hour after he took over the vehicle.

His mother, a housewife, received a call at their flat in Bukit Batok, telling her that 'something had happened' to her son, and that he was in hospital. Together with her husband, an engineer, they rushed down. But by the time they got there, it was too late.

The family is still questioning what led to 2LT Chan's death. After all, he had been on military trips to Brunei and Taiwan, and had always returned safely.

His mother said she is still too distraught to probe much into the details of her son's death.

But one thing they want to know is whether any other military personnel were with their son at the time of the incident. The family said Mindef has told them that it cannot reveal this now as the matter is still under investigation.

What little they know is that 2LT Chan - a newly commissioned officer - was a Motor Transport Officer based in Jurong Camp. He had gone to the Seletar camp that day to collect the vehicle.

It is also not known if he was alone at the time but his mother said he could not have gone to collect the vehicle alone because he did not have a driving licence.

In between sobs, she said that her son would come back almost every night to the family home to have dinner before heading back to camp. She had been expecting him as usual last Friday evening - but he never showed up.

2LT Chan's cousins described him as a 'happy-go-lucky' and 'playful' person, with a keen eye for fashion. He had a passion for clothes, they said, and even chose to specialise in retail management as a student at Temasek Polytechnic.

Close friends also called him a 'cheeky and happy' man. Said his former Basic Military Training platoon mate Audi Khalid, 21: 'He was the life of the platoon.'

Please read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.

kimspyke@sph.com.sg

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNew...ory_399594.html

Some Land Rovers are deem not "clean", have anyone here in MN seen prayers done to cleanse the Land Rover by the 4 religions if one dies in an Land Rover. I have not seen any yet. The parts of the affected Land Rover is sometimes savaged to make other Land Rover run again. So, sometimes dun blame the vehicle, if you know what is best for you.


R.I.P 2LT Nicholas Chan Wei Kit.

how can an MTO not have a driving license? isn't that part of the training basics an MTO should have? in fact come to think of it, all soldiers should have the basic ability to handle a LR or jeep in the field. during operations it is as basic as being able to fire your rifle.

Previously, my MTO also dun have civilian licence when he enlisted but became MTO subsequently. However he tell us that our unit send him for military class 3 & 4 driving course after he was posted to our unit a few months later.

Since 2LT Chan - a newly commissioned officer, I believed that he may not have a cilivan or military driving licence yet.

But I cannot confirm whether it is mandatory for all MTO to have driving licence before posted to unit.

It's unrealistic to expect every soldier to be Military Class 3 trained-- not to mention Class 4. Also, driving course not conducted 24/7, being newly commissioned he might not have the chance to go for course yet like blowpipe said.

I think the general perception is that all MTO should know how to drive military vehicles. Otherwise how a MTO should drive & move his vehicles around. His main job is managing vehicles. But again, I assume those MTO who do not have any licence can only be send to the next military driving course pending unit S1 arrangment.

I am not sure does MT officer need to go for any MTO course? Does the course include driving also? At least my times, driving is excluded. Our driving was conducted at Keat Hong camp. My 120 drivers went for the class 3 course with our MTO then. :lol:

My platoon also have people who did not go for the mortar course with us but they are part of our platoon strength. Reason being is that after 2nd year, more & more people downgrade due to the heavyweight so our OC get some riflemen transfered to our platoon.

Coz too late for mortar course & our unit is preparing for 2nd ATEC etc. They just go for sort of "OJT" with us. See us do they also do. If dunno ask questions. Eventually, they followed us through until today. Of course, only 2 of them are di not go thru the course compared to abt 18 of us who are formally trained. In terms of skills, they are as good as us, just that they dun have the SWI certificate. :P

went I was sent for armour conversion course, I had to take highway code before attending actual M113 driving lessons. I took the highway code test at Glouester Barracks, any one remember that one? :blink:

like that also can? isn't it contravening training safety regulations to have soldiers handle weapons they have not been properly trained and certified for?

Err, I dunno whether it violate any TSRs...Our platoon was activated once to support an infantry unit on 4NTM in Amoy Quee camp. We need to rush down Amoy Quee within 2 hours. Unfortunately, 1 attached MT line driver for our MB 290 was down (Our platoon was severly under-strenght in 2nd year). He did not turn up.

Our OC who was activated with us, ordered a NSF sgt who have a civilian but NOT military licence to drive one of the MB 290 instead. He say he will be responsible for all consequence. That time GSOC officer attached to us also approve.

MB290 is the unimog?

I guess if the unit is activated it can be considered as operations. but I think would be a severe violation of TSR during normal circumstance, especially handling vehicles that can endanger other road users and soldiers riding in it if improperly handled.

MB290 is also called 1.5 ton, the canopy behind is very high. Few people can differentiate Unimog from MB290.

We used it for towing mortar. 1 detachment 1 vehicle 1 mortar. Sleep inside very shiok coz very spacious. Somemore we are under strength so lesser people to fight for space.

We have to be on good terms with our MTO coz our vehicles always change depending on MT line. If he not good mood, he issue our drivers those lousy ones. :angry:

Wishing that MTOs all have Class 3/4 licenses is good and well as long as we remember that the MTO's job is not to drive or move the vehicles. Also, that even if he was sent for the course it could not have prevented this accident. Condolences to the family, and frankly further speculation without any information is pointless.

I would envisage the reply from the relevant authority to toe a neutral line, without direct respond to the issues concerned.

Death of SAF officer: Remedy lapses and reassure loved ones

Appropriate and timely letter from CJ. Safety first.

How could you expect more from bureaucratic arse-coverers?