Death of NUS Student who fell from seventh floor was due to missed footing and a tragic fall: Coroner’s report

Obbana Rajah

State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam ruled on Wednesday that the death of South Korean student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) was a tragic misadventure, due to her loss of footing as she was trying to get back into her dorm room through the window.

Jung Haelin, 18, was a first-year business student who had accidentally locked herself out of her dorm room when she came out at night to dispose of some trash.

Closed-circuit television footage taken at Block C of Sheares Hall showed Haelin trying to knock on the doors of others on the floor to wake them, but to no avail. The CCTV footage then saw her entering the pantry adjacent to her room shortly after.

State Coroner Kamala said, “Regrettably, it would appear that Ms Jung, after finding herself locked out of her room, decided to follow the example of her seniors to gain access to her room. She entered the pantry… and likely had attempted to leap across to her room from the laundry ledge outside the pantry window when she missed her footing and fell to the ground”.

The incident happened on the 28^th of October last year.

https://theindependent.sg.sg/nus-student-falls-to-her-death-after-trying-to-climb-into-locked-dorm-room/

State Coroner and District Judge Kamala also added that NUS has since conducted a review and made changes to prevent such incidents from happening again. Doors will no longer locked automatically when they close.

https://theindependent.sg.sg/nus-student-falls-to-her-death-after-trying-to-climb-into-locked-dorm-room/An autopsy report concluded that Haelin had suffered injuries that were consistent with a fall from height and that no foul play was involved.

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