4 12 October 1978. Mr Bala got a call from Professor Chao: Come to the mortuary now.
A flash fire had broken out on the Greek tanker Spyros at Jurong Shipyard. Mr Bala rushed to the mortuary, prepared the cleaning, packing and tagging equipment, and waited for the victims to arrive.
Seventy-six of them were brought in. The forensic team worked for a week, sometimes for up to 24 hours each day, as relatives came in to identify the victims. As always, Mr Bala and his fellow officers treated each body with care, revealing only what was necessary to aid in the identification process. By the end of the week, the forensic team was exhausted, but each officer knew that he’d done his part.
5 With such long hours at work together, the forensic team is very much a family. “Any time boss calls, we come down immediately – we must finish the work,” he says. “Back then, Professor Chao’s wife would bring us kopi and makan if we worked late.”
The call could come at any time. In the 1970s, the police would knock on Mr Bala’s door during emergencies, if they couldn’t get him on the phone. He’d ask the officers to wait for him at the carpark. “I didn’t want my neighbours to think the policemen were after me,” he recalls with a smile.
6 Mr Bala doesn’t only deal with death; his work also involves learning and life. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was part of the forensic team that examined the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning from cars and gas heaters. Such information was crucial in preventing accidental deaths. The team also analysed the effects of drugs on bodies and helped educate the public about drug addiction and abuse.
7 15 March 1986. Mr Bala was done for the day, had just taken his dinner and was listening to the headline news: Hotel New World collapses.
He shrugged it off. Never mind lah, this is in some other country.
He continued listening: Hotel New World, at Serangoon Road... Then the call came.
8 This time, Professor Chao and his fellow senior forensic pathologist Dr Wee Keng Poh brought him to the scene. “It was the worst feeling,” Mr Bala recalls thinking when he witnessed the ruins at the junction of Serangoon Road and Owen Road.
They immediately got down to work. Mr Bala was thin, so he and Dr Wee squeezed into a 1m-wide tunnel to reach a survivor under the rubble. Climbing into the tunnel, they gingerly avoided the broken glass and stone in their path.
The task was far from straightforward – with little room to spare, they had to remove a body that was blocking the survivor. This required the skills of a forensic technician, and Mr Bala was the man for the job.
As they worked, Mr Bala and Dr Wee were careful not to shine their flashlight at places where the survivor could see what they were doing. It took two hours before they could remove the body and come out again.
At the tunnel entrance, Professor Chao tossed Mr Bala a new uniform. “Change your clothes first,” he said.
Mr Bala understood; the public would be taken aback if he emerged, covered in blood. Back at the mortuary, Mr Bala and his fellow officers took care with the body before returning it to the family.