Singapore— The family of the 18-month-old girl who was killed when a mirror fell on her on Friday, August 23, has hired a local lawyer to advise and represent them in their case here.
The child was tragically killed when a full-length mirror accidentally fell on her in Urban Revivo, a fashion store at Jewel Changi Airport shortly after noon on Friday. Her family had been scheduled to return to Xiamen, China, a few hours later, where they are originally from.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force received an alert concerning the incident at 12.33 pm and promptly responded.
Staff on site had endeavored to administer aid to the child while waiting for the paramedics, who took her to Changi General Hospital. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The child’s remains were cremated on Sunday morning at Mandai Crematorium, after going back to the store at Jewel Changi for prayers at around 6:00 am.
Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported the name of the little girl as Lai Jia-xin. Her family returned to Xiamen on Monday, August 26, but have retained the services of a Singaporean lawyer.
In the meantime, Urban Revivo has removed every single free-standing mirror unit from their stores. The store had been cordoned off on Friday afternoon, and the Straits Times (ST) reports that as of Monday, there were no longer any full-length mirrors in at the branch, and that it was still cordoned off.
Videos of the store at Jewel Changi Airport posted on their Facebook page show full-length oval-shaped free-standing mirrors. The ST reports that this is the kind of mirror that was supposed to have fallen on the little girl.
Lianhe Wanbao reports that some children had been playing in the area around the mirror and ended up knocking it over, which caused it to fall. The toddler had unfortunately been standing in front of the mirror.
Her death has been classified as an unnatural death by the police, who are currently investigating the incident.
The Urban Revivo branch where the incident occurred is less than a month old, having opened at Jewel Changi Airport only at the end of July. Originally from China, the brand has over 200 stores all over the world, including two others in Singapore, which are at Plaza Singapura and Raffles City.
Concerning the incident, a spokesman for Urban Revivo has said “We are working closely with the tenant to ascertain the details of the incident. Out of respect for the privacy of the family, we are unable to comment further.”
An employee, who wished to remain unnamed, told ST on Sunday, August 25, that the company issued a directive for all standing mirrors to be checked. “We were told to double-check everything in the store yesterday (Saturday) and make sure things were secure.”
However, he said that the standing mirrors at the Jewel Changi Airport store are not the same as those from the brand’s outlet at Raffles City.
“The standing mirrors here are attached to the clothing racks so they are very stable. I think the ones at Jewel are free-standing.”/ TISG