15YO Dies in Yishun SAFRA During a High-Element Activity in a School Camp

For many Singaporean boys, school camps are essentially precursors of military camps. They are, after all, more similar than one would’ve initially thought:

• Both are about discipline and order
• Both encourage the usage of cheers
• Both have activities that serve to instill confidence in participants

So with all things considered, it’s not exactly wrong to deem school camps as precursors of their more-intense counterparts.

Though in hindsight, we would have hoped to confine the similarities to a positive level.

15YO Dies in Yishun SAFRA During a High-Element Activity

So if you recall, the Singapore Armed Forces are not without their fair share of accidents. Cases in point: Aloysius Pang, Liu Kai, Dave Lee and more.

And now, it seems that a school camp in Safra Yishun has suffered from its own tragic notion.

According to The Straits Times, a 15-year-old student from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) has passed away after falling at Safra Yishun yesterday (3 February 2021).

Apparently, he had been participating in a school camp organised by Camelot – an outdoor adventure learning company – when he fell during a high-element activity.

The boy was subsequently brought to the hospital for treatment, but failed to recover from his injuries.

He was pronounced dead early today.

According to the news report, the police has since questioned the affiliated instructors, but no foul play is suspected.

Professionalism

In the wake of the tragedy, Outdoor Learning and Adventure Education Association (OLAE) honorary secretary Delane Lim stated that the incident serves as an avid reminder to the outdoor education community: Regardless of whether the instructors are full-timers or freelancers, they are required to be professional, competent and up-to-speed on a skills basis.

Mr Lim also expressed his condolences to the family, and implored the public to let the investigations carry on unhindered.

“As the matter is currently under investigation, we should not speculate or (be) wild guessing what actually happened but to allow the fact finding process to take place by the authorities and relevant parties,” he said. “This incident will certainly impact our outdoor community significantly.”

He added: “It is time to take stock, review and revisit the processes in the various campsites and how to recruit, select and train our manpower.”

Any further updates will be expressed in a future article.

Fatal Fall

Though unrelated, this incident may remind some of the infamous 2015 case.

On 20 October 2015, a 14-year-old girl is believed to have been practising parkour in school when she missed the ledge and ended up falling from the fourth floor.

She eventually succumbed to her injuries.

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