SINGAPORE (ANN/THE STAR) – After more than 200 days of uncertainty following their disappearance during a hiking trip in Taiwan’s eastern Hualien County in April, a Singaporean couple has been officially declared dead.
The Hualien District Court issued death certificates for Sim Hwee Kok and Neo Siew Choo after their family submitted an application to the local authorities on Monday, December 23, according to reports from Taiwanese media.
Their time of death has been marked as noon on April 3.
The pair were last captured on surveillance cameras getting off a bus on April 3 at around 7.20am near the Shakadang Trail in Hualien’s Taroko National Park.
Nearly 40 minutes later, Taiwan’s biggest earthquake in 25 years – measuring 7.2 in magnitude with its epicentre 18km away from Hualien city – struck.
Search-and-rescue personnel from the Hualien fire department conducted multiple searches for the couple but to no avail, with sniffer dogs also given clothes worn by Mr Sim and Ms Neo to pick up their scent.
Their family members attended a religious ceremony with spiritual evocation rites performed on April 14 after the search was suspended over safety concerns.
While their whereabouts remain a mystery, the death certificates for Mr Sim and Ms Neo are expected to aid the family in handling the legal affairs of the missing couple, who reportedly also held Australian passports.
The family has conveyed their wishes to the Hualien authorities for the search to continue so they may seek closure, Taiwanese media reported.
An earlier appeal for information by a family member on Facebook requested that information be sent to helpsingaporefamily@gmail.com
The official death toll from the April 3 earthquake was previously 18, with more than a thousand people injured.
