If this sounds like a déjà vu, it’s because the high-profile incident involving the late NSman and actor Aloysius Pang also occurred in another country about a year ago.
According to Mindef, on Wednesday night (18 Dec 2019), a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Full-time National Serviceman (NSF), PTE Joshua Quek Shou Jie, 21, sustained a cervical spine injury during unilateral parachute training conducted in Taiwan.
The cervical spine is the cord in the neck, and according to Spine-health, is “a well-engineered structure of bones, nerves, muscles, ligaments, and tendon” that kind of connects the brain to other parts of the body.
Suffice to say, an injury to the cervical spine, as mentioned in Spinalcord.com, is “the most severe of all spinal cord injuries.”
The NSF was immediately evacuated to the nearest tertiary hospital, where he underwent surgery on the next morning.
Fortunately, surgery proceeded without complications and PTE Quek’s condition is currently stable, though he’s being monitored in the Intensive Care Unit and further treatment to stabilise the cervical spine injury is planned.
In addition, an orthopaedic specialist from Singapore has been flown in to help coordinate medical care.
His family has flown to Taiwan to visit him at the hospital, who is now “conscious and lucid”.
The family has also asked that their privacy be respected while PTE Quek undergoes further treatment.
The SAF is investigating the incident and has suspended this training, pending the outcome of investigations.
Currently, there is no army-wide safety timeout.
Aloysius Pang’s Incident Was Overseas, Too
On 19 January this year, the late actor Aloysius Pang was involved in an accident during a training exercise in New Zealand. He passed away five days later.
Last month, two servicemen were fined $8,000 and $7,000 respectively for causing Pang’s death under rash and/or negligent acts and for disobeying military general order.
