Cardboard collector, 82, dies in hospital after a fatal road accident; driver arrested
A cardboard collector, Teo Chun Seng (张振成), 82, was involved in a fatal traffic accident on the early morning of 4 November 2021, 4.52a.m., at the junction between Serangoon Road and Jalan Taman. The 53-year-old driver involved in the accident was arrested by the police, according to Chinese evening daily, Lianhe Wanbao.
When interviewed, a police spokesperson informed the media that an accident had happened at the aforementioned site on 4 November, and a 82-year-old male person was sent to the hospital unconscious, and he later died from his injuries. The police is still investigating the matter, and a 53-year old driver of a silver motor car is assisting the police with investigations over a case of negligent driving.
Details of the accident were sketchy, but according to Shaq (name transliterated), a 52-year-old security guard who worked at a condominium near the scene of the accident, Mr Teo was often seen in the neighbourhood with a pushcart with cardboards and old newspapers”.
“On the morning of the accident, I, in fact, had seen Uncle (referring to Teo) walking past the front of the condominium I am working at. At that time, I even nodded and greeted him. Little did I realise that he would be involved in an accident just hundreds of metres away, and that encounter was the last between us”, said Shaq.
Reportedly, Teo was a common feature in the neighbourhood, and residents in the area would specially put aside their old cardboards and newspapers for him.
Teo’s sister, Ms Teo, told
Lianhe Wanbao that, “rain or shine, my brother leaves his home between 3am and 4am every day; with a push cart, he will collect cardboards around the Potong Pasir, Serangoon and the Little India area”.
On the day of the tragedy, the police had contacted Ms Teo and broke the news to her in person.
She also recalled that she and her elder brother had lived together for 20 years, and their family was previously operating a medicinal hall. “After the landlord took back our lease, my brother started collecting cardboard to earn some pocket money and kill some time”, Ms Teo added.
When the media visited Teo’s flat, a rack full of cardboards and newspapers was visibly seen in front of his unit. Mdm Chua, a neighbour of Teo, said that he had moved in more than 10 years ago, and he was then already collecting cardboards and had laid them out neatly outside his unit on a rack.
“As neighbours, we would bring the old newspapers in our houses and passed it to him or placed it on his rack”, Mdm Chua added.
Since the tragic event on 4 November 2021, Ms Teo had already informed her brother’s neighbours, “my brother has passed away in an accident, there’s no more need to place your newspapers here in future”.
As Teo has no children, his remains were collected by his sister, and he was cremated on the same day.
“The long and persistent drizzle throughout yesterday (4 Nov) seems to be a way the heavens are remembering him.”, Mdm Chua recollected.
Indeed, we believe that the heavens, like many of us who came across this tragic story, are saddened by the loss of Mr Teo. May his soul be at peace!
