SINGAPORE – Describing his granddaughter as jovial and respectful, the heartbroken grandfather of four-year-old Eleanor Tan Si Xuan, who was killed earlier this week in a road accident, recounted the shock that fell upon him when he learnt she had lost her life.
Speaking to TODAY on Wednesday (Oct 11) at the girl’s wake at a public housing block on Bukit Batok Street 31, Mr Ang, 53, a private-hire car driver who declined to give his full name, said he was driving in the city when he received a call from his daughter and Eleanor’s mother, Ms Jacelyn Wong.
The words uttered to him: “Eleanor (is) no more already.”
Rushing to Eleanor’s side at the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, where the girl and the family’s domestic helper were taken, Mr Ang said he could not accept the fact that she had been pronounced dead.
“I hoped my granddaughter would wake up ... I knew the doctor already pronounced (her dead). But I just kept talking to her. I hope there would be some (miracle),” he said, adding that Ms Wong and her husband were also holding Eleanor’s hand and “asking her to wake up”.
At about 6.40pm on Monday, Eleanor and the family’s helper, who were on their way home from the girl’s childcare centre, were hit by a car along Bukit Batok Central towards Bukit Batok West Avenue 2.
There were no traffic lights at the spot where the duo had crossed the road, he said. The domestic helper regained consciousness on Tuesday, added Mr Ang.
A 53-year-old male driver has been arrested for causing death by a rash act. Police investigations are in progress.
Mr Ang last saw Eleanor on Monday morning, as she had stayed overnight at his home on Bukit Batok Street 21, which is two blocks away from her childcare centre.
He and his wife, a professional in the service line, have been caring for Eleanor since she was born in December 2012. She bunks in at their home frequently since it is closer to her childcare centre, which she attends on weekdays.
Typically, her grandmother would take her to the childcare centre in the mornings. However, there are times when she would ask Mr Ang to take her instead, if she noticed that her grandmother had not eaten breakfast, he said.
On how Eleanor’s mother, Ms Wong, was coping with the loss, Mr Ang said: “We told her to accept it. The accident has already happened.”
Ms Wong had told Chinese newspaper Shin Min Daily News she would typically pick Eleanor up from the childcare centre, but did not do so on Monday as she was cooking her daughter’s favourite dish of steamed eggs at home.
“Mothers have sixth sense. When I was cooking, I was already feeling very uneasy,” the 24-year-old said. “When I received the call from the hospital, I thought my daughter was just injured. It was only when my husband and I went to the hospital that we found out that our daughter was gone.”
Ultimately, Mr Ang said the family should stay happy for Eleanor. “The most important thing is that we live happily (and) let Eleanor watch us be happy, so she’ll be happy as well,” he told TODAY.
When asked what he would remember Eleanor most for, Mr Ang said: “Her smile; she’s always smiling. She is always respectful, so all the elders in the family dote on her.”
http://www.todayonline.com/singapor...s-harrowing-call-shock-4-year-old-girls-death
