H
Hanzo Hattori
Guest
Thursday January 6, 2011
Boy, five, chokes to death on curtain tie-back
ALOR SETAR: A young boy choked to death after he was caught in a curtain tie-back at his house in Seberang Jalan Putera here.
Five-year-old Tan Yin Sheng (pic) was in the hall of the house at Taman Timah, playing and going through some new kindergarten books with his grandmother Cheah Siew Eng at about 9.30pm on Tuesday.
Cheah, 71, left the boy alone for a few moments to answer the phone.
When she returned to the hall, she was shocked to see the boy entangled in the curtain tie-back, which was about a metre above the floor and attached to a hook on the wall.
“He was in a jovial and playful mood,” sobbed Cheah. “I was stunned to see him entangled in the curtain. I quickly untied the tieback around his neck. However, he was already motionless and breathless.”
Cheah then screamed for help and the boy’s mother Ooi Huey Fen, 37, who was in the kitchen at that time, ran out to try and revive him but failed.
With the help of neighbours, the two women rushed Yin Sheng to a private clinic but the boy was pronounced dead on arrival. The child’s body was then taken to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital mortuary for a post-mortem.
Tragic play: A mournful Cheah (right) holding a relative’s child while one of her relatives inspects the curtain tie-back (circled) which was entangled around the neck of her grandson Yin Sheng at their home in Taman Timah, Alor Setar on Tuesday night.
Police have classified the case as sudden death.
Kota Setar OCPD ACP Adzaman Jan said they did not suspect foul play.
Yin Sheng was cremated at the Chinese Gengsui Cemetery at Pokok Sena here, yesterday afternoon.
