Third-year mechanical engineering undergraduate Justin Tan Honng Tze was driving alone during a storm in Slovakia last Friday when a tree fell on his car, hitting him on the head.
Tragically, the 23-year-old never regained consciousness after that and died in hospital the same day, reports Channel NewsAsia.
The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) student had been on an exchange programme in the Czech Republic at the VSB – Technical University Ostrava, and he was travelling in Slovakia when the accident took place.
Rescuers found him unconscious at the scene and conveyed him to hospital, where doctors certified him brain-dead. Tan’s parents — who flew to Slovakia with his brother and NTU associate chair Professor Ooi Kim Tiow — agreed to donate his organs to other patients in Slovakia. The young student has since been cremated there and his family returned to Singapore with his ashes.
Prior to the exchange programme, Tan had represented Singapore in sport climbing in the 2011 SEA Games. He was remembered by NTU as a good student with an adventurous spirit, an outgoing personality and a kind heart.
“He will be dearly missed by all who know him, and our professional counsellors from NTU will assist his fellow students in coping with the emotional impact of this tragedy,” said NTU President Professor Bertil Andersson in an email to students.
