'You be a good boy': Final words Lorong Lew Lian fire victim told neighbour's son

Just hours before he died in a fire at his Serangoon flat, a 68-year-old man stopped to offer a few words of encouragement to his neighbour's son.

"Don't worry, you be a good boy, and you will achieve good things in your life," he told the boy on Tuesday (Sept 1) morning.

They would be the last words Siti Aisyah Abdul Rahman, 46, remembers hearing from the elderly neighbour she had known for about eight years.

Later that afternoon, a fire broke out in his third-floor unit at Block 8 Lorong Lew Lian.

The man was found unconscious inside the flat and taken to hospital.

Speaking to AsiaOne, Aisyah said the loss was difficult to process, given how frequently they had crossed paths over the years.

"For the past eight years, almost every day I see him and we acknowledge each other," she said.

"What makes me more sad is that today, this morning before I left for work, he actually acknowledged me."

'At first I thought it was incense burning'

When Aisyah's mom, Zaitun Idris, first smelled smoke outside her Serangoon flat, she thought someone nearby was burning incense.

But when the 72-year-old stepped out of her unit at Block 8 Lorong Lew Lian, she saw thick smoke filling the corridor.

That was when she realised a neighbouring unit was on fire.

"I screamed, 'tolong, tolong! fire, fire!'" she recalled.

As the blaze intensified, Zaitun said she could hear the 68-year-old occupant struggling inside the third-floor unit.

"I hear the pakcik banging, struggling, then fire start to come out of the unit," she said.

She also heard popping and crackling sounds coming from inside the flat.

"I got scared. My children told me to evacuate," she said.

Unable to get closer because of the thick smoke and her asthma condition, she could only call for help.

Her daughter was at work when her mother called her about the fire.

With no younger family members at home to help, Aisyah told her mother to leave the flat and get herself to safety.

Aisyah then contacted the Residents' Committee manager for assistance, while neighbours helped Zaitun downstairs.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at about 2.45pm.

The blaze involved the contents of the living room and was extinguished using a water jet.

During firefighting operations, an unconscious man was found in the living room.

Firefighters brought him out and commenced cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Police said the 68-year-old was taken unconscious to hospital, where he subsequently died.

Three women, aged between 51 and 95, were also taken conscious to hospital.

About 30 people were evacuated from the block by police and SCDF officers as a safety precaution.

Police said preliminary investigations do not suggest foul play. Investigations are ongoing.

@asiaone A man has died after a fire broke out at a third-floor HDB flat at Block 8 Lorong Lew Lian on Sept 1, with about 30 residents evacuated and three others taken to hospital. https://asia1.news/3T2g4pw #sgnews #Singapore #Fire #HDB ♬ original sound - AsiaOne

'Like a father figure'

Aisyah said she did not always see eye to eye with the elderly man. 

Despite their occasional disagreements, Aisyah remembered him as a friendly and kind person.

“I take it like he’s a father figure,” she said, adding that he coincidentally shares the same name as her own father.

As many of the residents in the area are elderly and their children are away at work during the day, Aisyah said she often tried to look out for him.

"To show him that there's still someone you can talk to," she said.

One memory in particular stood out. 

One Hari Raya, the man unexpectedly turned up at her doorstep to make peace.

"I was shocked because I was supposed to be the one making the first move," she said.

He then went on to tell her: "We used to quarrel, but today is Hari Raya. Let's forgive and forget. Now our score is 0-0.'"

The moment stayed with her. 

Aisyah said the encounter made her laugh and helped her see beyond their disagreements. 

“At the end of the day, he’s still an old man who needs attention,” she said. 

Learning that he had died was especially painful, given their brief interaction just hours earlier.

Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng, who is also MP for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, said in a Facebook post that he had known the deceased for many years.

"As he has been a resident here for many years and is by nature a friendly person, he will be missed," he wrote.

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