Death of teen after basketball court structure fell on him was misadventure: Coroner

Nakhoda said that the structure should have easily held Ridwan’s weight, but an inherent defect in the structure’s construction caused the accident.

“This was a truly tragic case of a young man with his entire life before him suddenly struck down in his prime,” said the coroner.

Ridwan had no discernible medical conditions, nor was he affected by major chronic conditions, Nakhoda added.

Giving his brief conclusion into his findings on Sept 18, the coroner said a Health Sciences Authority (HSA) report revealed that both posts of the basketball structure had broken at the point where they were welded to the rest of the structure.

He said the report suggests that the welding had not been done well, with variations in thickness and gaps appearing between the weld and surface of the hollow poles.

The same welds did not appear on the other basketball structure at the court, leading him to believe the original structure most probably had been damaged, and it was repaired and welded back together.

The coroner added that his full findings will be made available at a later date.

In a Sept 18 Facebook post, the East Coast Town Council said EM Services was the managing agent overseeing the accident site.

It also said that following the 2021 accident, it had closed all basketball courts in the estate for inspection by professional engineers, and reopened them only after any faults had been identified and fixed.