Head diver, Phillip Chan, 62, was killed by a stingray in a freak accident while removing sea creatures from Underwater World in Singapore last Tuesday. The park shut down earlier in the year, requiring all sea creatures be transported out of it.
Chan had actually been working with aquatic animals since the park opened in 1991.
The incident, which brings to mind the stingray tragedy that took Steve Irwin’s life in 2006, is the first time anything like it has happened in Singapore.
Though Chan was taken to a hospital for treatment, he ended up succumbing to his injuries. Police say the unnatural death will be investigated.
“Mr Chan was one of 10 staff who stayed on to care for the animals while suitable homes were being found,” a spokesperson for the Haw Par Corporation, which owns the park, said.
Any further transfer of animals has been suspended until further notice.
