Singapore club pays family of golfer killed by lightning

One of Singapore's top golf clubs said Thursday that it will compensate the family of a member who died in 2009 after being struck by lightning while playing on its course. The Tanah Merah Country Club will pay Sg$80,822 ($64,246) in damages plus legal costs to businessman Soh Lye Huat's widow and son, who had filed a lawsuit in April last year against the club for alleged negligence. The TMCC accepted an offer to settle lodged by the family, club general manager Roy Higgs told AFP. "The club considers the matter resolved and trusts that there can finally be closure," he said, adding that legal costs would be borne by the club's insurers. The Straits Times newspaper said it was believed to be the first time a Singapore golf club was sued by the family of a lightning victim. The 57-year-old victim was struck on October 25, 2009 and died of multiple organ failure after two weeks, the newspaper said. According to the lawsuit, two golf marshals arrived at the scene without an oxygen pump, and did not know how to operate an automated external defibrillator that could have revived the victim. Singapore, a tropical island that is dotted with golf courses, has one of the world's highest rates of lightning activity with an average of 171 thunderstorm days recorded annually, according to the meteorological service. "We hope that TMCC and other golf clubs will learn from this tragedy and improve golf course safety and emergency procedures," Soh's family said in a statement to another newspaper, the Business Times. "This case was never about the money."