Singapore
The tree that fell at the Singapore Botanic Gardens did not have any external signs of decay, Coroner Marvin Bay said, quoting experts.
Ms Radhika Angara was killed after a 270-year-old tree, last inspected in September 2016 and deemed healthy, collapsed, crushing her and injuring four others, including her husband and one-year-old twins.
SINGAPORE: The death of a 38-year-old woman who was killed by a Tembusu tree which uprooted at the Singapore Botanic Gardens last year was a tragic misadventure.
That was Coroner Marvin Bay’s finding on Monday (Apr 30), two weeks after the conclusion of the inquiry into the death of Indian national Radhika Angara.
Experts had pointed to strong winds and heavy rain in the days before the tragic incident which led to the “final failure” of the tree, said the coroner, adding that there were no external signs of the decay within the tree.
The incident happened on Feb 11, 2017, when Ms Angara was at the UNESCO world heritage site with her husband and now two-year-old twins. She was killed when the 40m-tall tree fell on her. Four others, including her husband and children, were injured.
Ms Angara’s husband, French national Jerome Rouch-Sirech, sat with his face in his hands most of the time while the finding was delivered.
A four-day inquiry, spread out over about nine months, had revolved around why the heritage tree, estimated to be 270 years old, last inspected in September 2016 and deemed healthy, could uproot.
At the close of the inquiry on Apr 17, Ms Angara’s father stood up to say a few words about the daughter he lost. She was “a young mother out on a pleasant day for a picnic with her babies”, he said.
It was a tragedy that could have been prevented “with some vigilant action” on the part of NParks, the father told the inquiry, which was also attended by Ms Angara’s mother, sister and husband. The family was also present on Monday.
Among the witnesses who gave evidence at the inquiry which started in July, were three arborists and two NParks employees in charge of arboriculture at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Senior Counsel Chelva Rajah, who represented Ms Angara’s family, quizzed NParks’ director of streetscape Abdul Hamid on why the tree was not more closely examined for faults and how it could have collapsed “for no apparent reason”.
The director, who is also an arborist, had testified that there were no external signs or symptoms of an internal decay, which was discovered only when the Tembusu tree fell, crushing Ms Angara.
When the tree uprooted, arborists observed that at the point where the trunk broke, it was 70 to 75 per cent decayed. Parts of the tree’s roots were also decayed or dead.
The Singapore Botanic Gardens’ deputy director Elango Velautham and senior manager Thaddeus Cheng had also testified, along with independent arborists Derek Yap of Camphora and Richard Gordon Thomas of ArborCulture.
