PUB toxic gas incident: Girls unaware their dad had died
Mr Srinivasan Sivaraman, 40, died on May 23 after inhaling a poisonous gas while carrying out routine tank cleaning at the PUB Choa Chu Kang Waterworks.
Distraught by the news of her husband's death, 35-year-old Narmatha took Mahasri, nine, and Srinisha, seven, back to India the day after.
Her brother Mohan Naveenkumar would take Mr Srinivasan's body to the family home in Tamil Nadu in India on May 28.
But it was only on May 29, after Mr Sivaraman's body had reached the family home for the last rites and cremation, were his daughters informed of his death.
Madam Narmatha and her daughters were in Singapore on a one-month holiday when the incident happened.
The reason given to the young girls for cutting short their time with their father was that he was unwell and receiving treatment.
The young girls were inconsolable, their grief witnessed by the crowd attending the funeral.
Mr Naveenkumar told Tabla that Mahasri, who never missed a day of chatting with her father through a video call, had asked him: “How can you expect me not to cry when you tell me that my father will never be with me again?”
Srinisha is still trying to make sense of the situation.
The other two workers affected by the toxic gas were Malaysians. One died on May 28 while the other is in stable condition.
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