Teachers and pupils pay last respects to blaze victims
GEORGE TOWN: SJK(C) Li Tek pupils Yin Cai Yun and Chan Yan Thong embraced each other and sobbed at the wake of their classmate Lim Jia Ying.
Both the eight-year-old girls broke down yesterday when their teacher Lee Choon Theng told all of them to observe a moment of silence for their departed friend.
A total of 90 pupils and seven teachers came to pay their last respects to the four family members of Tanjung MCA Youth chief Lim Swee Bok at the Sri Saujana flats on Macallum Street Ghaut.
They also gave a RM5,500 donation to the family.
The school’s headmaster Tan Saw Hoon could not hold back her tears at the wake.
“It is a loss for many of us as they were really outstanding pupils who had a bright future,” Tan added.
Education Ministry’s northeast district supervising director Look Keng Weai who was also present said the ministry would look into providing aid for the family.
Lim, who is an engineer, was working at a factory in Bayan Lepas when his entire family perished in the fire which gutted his two-storey house in Pintasan Cecil 5 on Wednesday.
His Chinese national wife Chen Yan, 35, son Yin Chun, 10, daughter Jia Ying, nine, and mother Lau Sai Poh, 62, died in the blaze.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The funeral service will be held at 11am tomorrow for Lim’s two children, and at 2pm for his mother and wife before the corteges leave for the Batu Gantung Crematorium.