A migrant worker from China who had suffered burns during a factory fire at 28 Tuas Avenue 10 on 24 June 2017 has died on 29 June 2017.
He has been identified as 39 year old Chen Qui.
Two migrant workers from China had suffered burns during the blaze and had been sent to the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
NTUC Assistant Director-General (ADG) and Chairman of the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) Yeo Guat Kwang expressed his deepest sympathies to Mr Chen’s loved ones for their loss.
In a statement, he said Mr Chen’s employer had made swift arrangements for his immediate family to be in Singapore with him during his final moments.
Importance of Workplace Safety
Also expressing his sadness was NTUC Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing.
Writing on his Facebook page he said, "Incidents like this are unfortunate and every fatality is one too many. We must ensure workplaces are safe and that all workers are well-supported should anything happen to them".
SG Chan also commended MWC for moving quickly to ascertain the number of casualties and for working with relevant parties to keep track of the workers' conditions when the incident took place.
He says MWC will continue to offer its assistance and support in this difficult time.
On its part, Mr Yeo says the MWC will be giving a token to the family through its humanitarian charity, the Migrant Workers’ Assistance Fund.
There have also been offers of donations from well-wishers.
To facilitate these private tokens to both the affected workers and their families, MWC says a special fund-raising campaign will be set up with the National Council of Social Service’s Giving.SG site (www.giving.sg) starting from 30 Jun 2017.
The link to the fund-raising campaign will also be on MWC’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/mwcsg) and its WeChat platform (MWCSGP).
Meanwhile the second worker, Mr Jiang Yong Teng, 27 remains under the critical care of SGH.
The Operations
It was the long weekend leading up to the Hari Raya celebrations and staff from the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) could have just spent their time with their loved ones. But they did not.
Several of them swung into action on 24 June 2017 upon hearing of a factory fire at Tuas.
Mr Yeo said its emergency operations team was deployed to the site immediately that day.
MWC also worked closely with the Chinese Embassy on arrangements for both workers’ next-of-kin to travel to Singapore.
