Lone survivor who lost husband and daughter in 2022 Bedok fire dies

The New Paper 
Mar 27, 2024

A woman whose husband and daughter died in a fire on May 13, 2022, has died after being in a vegetative state in a hospital in Kuala Lumpur since the incident.

Ms Koh Pei Yee, 36, was hospitalised in Singapore for two months before her family moved her to the Kuala Lumpur hospital.

"Although she couldn't move or speak, she could blink. We all felt that she was still conscious and could hear us," a relative told Lianhe Zaobao.

"We did worry that should she wake up one day, she won't know how to deal with the death of her husband and daughter."

Ms Koh died just after midnight on March 24. She is survived by her parents, who are in their 60s, an older brother and two younger sisters.

The fire in a flat at Block 409 of Bedok North Avenue 2 was caused by a cigarette that had been left unattended by the landlord's boyfriend.

Although the landlord, Ms Aileen Chan, eventually removed the cigarette when alerted by her boyfriend, hot ash and embers likely ignited the cardboard boxes it had been left on.

Ms Koh's husband Tan Soon Keong, her three-year-old daughter Hui En and Ms Chan died in the fire.

Neighbours called the Singapore Civil Defence Force at about 6.30am that day.

Mr Tan threw his keys to a neighbour through the bedroom window but the neighbours could not enter to help as the fire in the living room was too big.

Ms Chan was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Mr Tan and Hui En were rushed to the hospital but they died from fume inhalation.

Their deaths were ruled as an unfortunate misadventure.