SINGAPORE, Oct 24 — The Singaporean involved in a dramatic rescue of a child during September’s earthquake in Palu, Indonesia, was found dead in India yesterday following a paragliding accident.
According to The Air Sports Federation of Singapore, its member Ng Kok Choong had taken off with his paraglider around 11am on Monday in Bir-Billing in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, when the weather deteriorated.
He did not return to his hotel, and his body was found by the Indian authorities on Tuesday.
Indian newspaper Hindustani Times cited an Indian official who said that Ng, who had been registered as a free flyer, “probably lost control due to strong winds and crash-landed on the other side of the mountains”.
The newspaper added that the Indian authorities had mounted an operation to retrieve Ng’s body, found in the Dhauladhar mountains overlooking the Palampur Valley, with the help of a helicopter.
Paying tribute to Ng in an obituary posted on its site on Tuesday, the club wrote: “We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of our beloved friend, Ng Kok Choong, a beautiful soul who flew with us these many years.”
Ng, whom the club said was a former commando in his National Service days, was “selfless, brave and always moving for the next challenge”. It added that his “always-can-do attitude was highly appreciated and admired by his mates”.
Just last month, Channel NewsAsia had reported about Ng’s dramatic rescue of an Indonesian girl in the Indonesian town of Palu in Sulawesi after it was hit by a tsunami following an earthquake.
The 53-year-old retiree, who was in Sulawesi to take part in a paragliding competition, and his friend had encountered the little girl and her mother stuck under the debris of the hotel they were staying at. — TODAY
