SINGAPORE — She was an elderly wheelchair user who was in her house when her daughter lit two joss sticks in the living room to get rid of cigarette smell from a neighbouring unit and left to buy lunch.

Tragically, Lim Mang Yin, 83, died after one of the lit sticks led to a fire engulfing the living room in Gangsa Road on 30 November last year. Lim was found to have died from inhalation of products of combustion after her burnt body was found in the house.

On Thursday (30 May), State Coroner (SC) Kamala Ponnampalam pronounced Lim’s death to be an “unfortunate misadventure” in the Coroner’s Court.

Lim, who had dementia, shared the flat with two of her children - older daughter Liew Kiat Mee, and younger daughter Liew Kiat Phin. She required help for her daily activities such as eating and bathing. The elderly woman had been living with her elder son but moved to her daughters’ house two weeks before her death.

Kiat Phin was the primary caregiver for her mother, who would sit on a single-seat sofa throughout the day resting or watching television. As her mother had a habit of spitting, newspapers would be laid out on the sofa and on the floor for ease of cleaning.

At the time of the fire incident, there were cardboard boxes, old newspapers, an unused television set, umbrellas, and other items in the living room.

Kiat Phin, who was unemployed, testified that she would occasionally smell cigarette smoke from her neighbour’s unit and she would burn joss sticks to get rid of the smell. None of the three women were smokers.

On 30 November, Kiat Mee left home for work at 8am. Her mother and sister were at home then.

At about 11am, Kiat Phin smelt cigarette smoke in the house. She took two partially burnt joss sticks from her bedroom, relit the sticks with a gas lighter and placed them at two locations in the living room.

Kiat Phin placed one between a stack of papers on a table next to the television set and another at the top of a cardboard box beside the sofa where her mother was. She stepped out of the house almost an hour later to buy lunch. Prior to that, she left the television and the standing fan in the living room switched on.

While Kiat Phin had locked the main gate and closed the windows of the living room, she left the main door open for ventilation. When she returned home after buying lunch, she found that her house was on fire.

Officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived at about 12.40 pm and forced their way into the flat. A burnt body, later determined to be Lim, was found on the charred sofa. She was pronounced dead at 1.02pm. The SCDF officers extinguished the fire shortly.

The probable cause of fire was likely accidental and due to the lit joss stick left by Kiat Phin on the cardboard box, said SC Kamala.

“It would have ignited the cardboard box or combustible materials such as newspapers and towels placed on it. The ventilation provided by the oscillating stand fan in the living room could have contributed to the smouldering fire turning it into flames,” said the SC, citing the fire investigation report.

The fire would have spread to the newspapers on the floor and to the sofa where the elderly woman was resting, added the SC.

“Mdm Lim, who was immobile, would not have been able to self-evacuate or extinguish the fire on her own. Being in close proximity to the area where the fire originated, she inhaled the smoke and fumes produced by the fire leading to her demise,” said the SC.

The report detailed that the fire damage was consistent with that of a fire originating from a section in the living room. The remnant of a joss stick was also found between stacks of paper on top of a table, beside the television set in the living room.

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