Body of Malaysian victim in China tugboat sinking incident arrives home

The body of Malaysian, Cheong Kin Chin, 55, who drowned in a tugboat sinking incident at Fubei Channel, Yangtze River nearby Jiangjiang, Jiangsu province in China last Jan 15 arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang around 4pm Friday.

The remains of the deceased were then taken to a funeral parlour at Temiang here at about 7pm.

The victim's brother-in-law, Yong Peng Seng, 61, said the remains would be cremated Sunday.

He said the late Cheong was working as a technical supervisor with a Singaporean company and had been living in China for more than five years.

"Although he lived apart, he often kept in touch with his family. The last time they met was last year during the Chinese New Year celebrations as every year he would return to his family home in Kampung Baru Rasah to celebrate with them.

"News of his death which was conveyed by his employer, was a shock to us," he said here Saturday.

He said the deceased a bachelor, was youngest of four siblings whose parents had died.

In the incident, out of the 25 victims, only three survived while the rest had been confirmed dead, including four Singaporeans, one Malaysian, one Indian, one Indonesian and one Japanese.