Coffin too big for furnace
THE Singaporean who died in a freak accident at a car wash in Malaysia last Saturday had to have his coffin switched at the last minute because it was too big.
The Malaysian coffin that Mr Seow Wei Hua was brought back in could not fit into the furnace on Tuesday at the Mandai Crematorium. His body had to be transferred at the eleventh hour to a smaller one, Lianhe Wanbao reported.
Workers had first attempted to make it fit by sawing off the corners.
Several undertakers interviewed said such occurrences are uncommon here, as families of the deceased usually received early notice if a coffin brought from overseas is too big.
It was not clear who handled Tuesday's cremation, but Union Casket managing director William Quek put the incident down to inexperience.
He said: 'We have handled such cases many times and we will immediately see if it is too big and inform the family that they need to change it.'
THE Singaporean who died in a freak accident at a car wash in Malaysia last Saturday had to have his coffin switched at the last minute because it was too big.
The Malaysian coffin that Mr Seow Wei Hua was brought back in could not fit into the furnace on Tuesday at the Mandai Crematorium. His body had to be transferred at the eleventh hour to a smaller one, Lianhe Wanbao reported.
Workers had first attempted to make it fit by sawing off the corners.
Several undertakers interviewed said such occurrences are uncommon here, as families of the deceased usually received early notice if a coffin brought from overseas is too big.
It was not clear who handled Tuesday's cremation, but Union Casket managing director William Quek put the incident down to inexperience.
He said: 'We have handled such cases many times and we will immediately see if it is too big and inform the family that they need to change it.'
