NUS scholar found dead in UTown campus

NUS scholar found dead in UTown campus

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UPDATED [11:25am 24 April 2013. Adds information from police and acquaintances of the deceased.]

A Year One student from the National University of Singapore (NUS) University Scholars' Programme (USP) was found dead in the varsity's UTown campus.

21-year-old Peter Huen Kam Fai was found dead in his room late Tuesday afternoon at the Cinnamon College. The cause of death has yet to be confirmed but Yahoo! Singapore understands he was found hanging.

Police said they received a call on Tuesday at 5:06pm requesting for assistance at College Ave East.

Upon arrival, they found a male Chinese motionless at the location. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said they are investigating the "unnatural death".

An NUS spokesperson revealed, in an official statement, that "the student was found in his room by a university staff" and that "police investigations are ongoing."

Huen, who was majoring in Political Science, is also understood to have been an active sportsman, and was part of the USP Foosball Club.

An NUS graduate who used to play floorball in school with the deceased but did not want to be named told Yahoo! Singapore Huen's death was "really unexpected because you could never tell he was suicidal". Huen had also stopped turning up for games "for a while", the person added.

The source further pointed out that Huen's "last Facebook post was in mid-March", despite being someone who "used to post pretty often".

News of Huen's death quickly spread on social media.

A post on popular local forum Eat Drink Man Woman by his former teacher at Hwa Chong Institution, Charles Low, said the "world has lost a good man today".

He added that Huen would be missed for his quiet confidence, his wit and self-deprecating humour and willingness to help others. It's also understood he had a passion for writing and the humanities.

A fellow resident of Cinnamon College, who also did not wish to be named, described Huen as "always well-liked... always with a smile."

This was the second piece of tragic news to hit NUS this week.

On Tuesday, the wife of NUS professor, Gong Jiangbin, was killed in an accident with an SBS double-decker bus.

Zhang Hui Rui, 43, died after being hit and dragged by bus service 78, which was turning into Clementi Avenue 3.




- wong chee tat :)