<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Commando's body to be flown home
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE body of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) commando who died in a parachuting mishap in South Africa will be flown back to Singapore on Sunday.
The wife of First Warrant Officer (1WO) Tan Poh Eng has flown to the city of Bloemfontein, where he was killed on Wednesday during a freefall training exercise gone wrong.
1WO Tan, 53, was nicknamed 'Yoko Yoko' - which means positive in Japanese - by his colleagues. The parachute jump instructor from the Commando Training Institute was a member of the famed SAF elite skydivers, the Red Lions, and had taken part in previous National Day parades (NDP).
He was part of a six-man team conducting a formation jump from a Republic of Singapore Air Force C-130 plane when the tragedy happened.
The team was part of a 51-member SAF contingent which has been training there since April 27 and is due back in Singapore on Sunday. The exercise is held in South Africa every two years.
The Defence Ministry said 1WO Tan 'spiralled to the ground' after the rest of the team deployed their chutes. Experts say that the term 'spiralled' would have meant that 1WO Tan managed to deploy his chute, although it could have been faulty.
He was found unconscious at about 10.45am (4.45pm Singapore time), and was given immediate treatment by an SAF doctor and medic. He died an hour after he was found. All SAF freefall training exercises have been temporarily suspended.
The last known military parachute accident was four years ago, when a Red Lions freefaller fractured his pelvis after landing badly at an NDP rehearsal. A former military parachutist said such incidents were rare, as there are stringent safety precautions in place. For example, freefallers perform checks on one another's equipment for about 30 minutes before each jump. JERMYN CHOW
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE body of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) commando who died in a parachuting mishap in South Africa will be flown back to Singapore on Sunday.
The wife of First Warrant Officer (1WO) Tan Poh Eng has flown to the city of Bloemfontein, where he was killed on Wednesday during a freefall training exercise gone wrong.
1WO Tan, 53, was nicknamed 'Yoko Yoko' - which means positive in Japanese - by his colleagues. The parachute jump instructor from the Commando Training Institute was a member of the famed SAF elite skydivers, the Red Lions, and had taken part in previous National Day parades (NDP).
He was part of a six-man team conducting a formation jump from a Republic of Singapore Air Force C-130 plane when the tragedy happened.
The team was part of a 51-member SAF contingent which has been training there since April 27 and is due back in Singapore on Sunday. The exercise is held in South Africa every two years.
The Defence Ministry said 1WO Tan 'spiralled to the ground' after the rest of the team deployed their chutes. Experts say that the term 'spiralled' would have meant that 1WO Tan managed to deploy his chute, although it could have been faulty.
He was found unconscious at about 10.45am (4.45pm Singapore time), and was given immediate treatment by an SAF doctor and medic. He died an hour after he was found. All SAF freefall training exercises have been temporarily suspended.
The last known military parachute accident was four years ago, when a Red Lions freefaller fractured his pelvis after landing badly at an NDP rehearsal. A former military parachutist said such incidents were rare, as there are stringent safety precautions in place. For example, freefallers perform checks on one another's equipment for about 30 minutes before each jump. JERMYN CHOW
