From The Sun:
A TEENAGER bounced off his bed and out of a third-floor window to his death during a wild impression of a rock guitarist.
Excited Li Xiao Meng was jumping around with his guitar in the bedroom of a Singapore students' hostel when he made the fatal mistake.
The 16-year-old business student, from China, was "hyped up with exhilaration" when he rebounded off the bed and out of the window, coroner Tan Boon Heng told the Straits Times newspaper.
“He was jumping up and down on the bed placed against an open window while imitating a rock guitarist,” Mr Tan said.
Li often met with his friends in one of their rooms, where they smoked, sang and played guitar.
The boys apparently kept the window open because they liked to
smoke, even though it was banned by the hostel.
Mr Tan urged authorities to improve safety at the dormitory, saying the room’s window latch had been tampered with.
Li’s father, Li Zhong Yuan, 58, expressed sorrow over what
happened to his only child.
“Now he’s gone and at my age, I don’t think I can have another child,” he said. Li, we salute you!
Posted by Tom Whitwell.
The story has been reported in lots of different places. I found it in the news in brief column in my local paper. Most of that reporting doesn't get beyond 'weird Chinese teenager'. I genuinely feel warm towards the guy. Plenty of people get run over by a bus, but he died doing something he really enjoys. If he hadn't died, but was in hospital recovering, do you think he'd be happy or sad to know that a few thousand musicians all over the world were reading is story and smiling, but empathising? I left in the last paragraph with the quotes from his father to remind everyone that he was a real guy, and that it's a real tragedy. But I for one am not mocking him. I'd definitely rather fall out of a window while rocking out than getting run over by a bus.
teenage toe-tag tragedy. i got two dead drummers who couldn't keep time but i miss them still. you need to celebrate life because only the not-so-slither*y die young, kid!
"dont you never ever pull my lever... cuz i explode - and my 9 is easy to load... i gotta thank god.. cuz he gave me the jam to rock HARD! ooh knock you out... mama said knock you out!!"
: 9:56 pm