NUS student dies after trying to enter 7th floor dormitory from ledge: coroner

The death of a National University of Singapore (NUS) student, who fell from the seventh floor of her dormitory while possibly trying to climb into her room from a ledge, has been deemed a tragic misadventure by the coroner of ‘State.

Jung Haelin, an 18-year-old South Korean, had unintentionally locked her out of the room in Block C Sheares Hall at NUS. She left her registration card in her room as she went to litter on October 28 last year. The card was needed to open the automatically locked door to the room.

Jung tried to enter his room from the adjacent pantry. She likely jumped back to her room from a ledge outside the pantry window when she lost her balance and fell to the ground. She was pronounced dead by paramedics at 1.19pm the same day at the National University Hospital (NUH).

After his death, an NUS committee recommended that bedroom doors should not be automatically locked when closed. The proposal has been implemented by the NUS since February, State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam noted during the findings of the coroner’s inquest on Wednesday (May 2).

During the investigation, CCTV footage produced showed Jung leaving his room with trash around 11:15 a.m. She threw it away and went back to her room. She was seen trying to open her door. She then walked down the hallway and knocked on the doors of neighboring units, but the doors were not opened.

She then entered and exited the pantry twice before entering a third time, but she did not reappear, according to these images.

In another CCTV footage, Jung was seen falling to the ground, feet first, around 11:20 a.m. About six minutes later, a passerby walked past her but did not attend to her.

Two other passers-by came to where Jung was lying on the ground. Paramedics from the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) arrived and attended to Jung.

Paramedics performed CPR on Jung, who suffered a cardiac arrest while in the ambulance heading to NUH. Attempts to revive her continued when she arrived at NUH, but she died without regaining consciousness.

More stories from Singapore

Unlicensed travel agent sentenced to 23 months in prison for embezzlement of more than $90,000

Trio jailed for violence at Upper Serangoon Teochew porridge stall