Passenger in Ferrari is a China student
Young woman said to have been at party with classmates before crash; link to driver is unclear
Published on May 16, 2012
By Bryna Sim, Lim Yan Liang & Amelia Tan Hui Fang
THE young female companion of the Ferrari driver involved in the fatal accident on Saturday has been identified as Ms Wu Wei Wei, a student from Wuhan, China.
The woman is one of the two survivors in the accident and, just hours before it, she was said to have been at a graduation party with her classmates.
Though Ms Wu was in the passenger seat of the Ferrari driven by Mr Ma Chi, it is unclear how the two knew each other and how they ended up together that night.
Mr Ma, 31, also a Chinese national, crashed his supercar into a ComfortDelGro taxi, driven by Mr Cheng Teck Hock, on Saturday morning near Bugis Junction. He died at the scene.
Mr Cheng, 52, and his Japanese passenger, Ms Shigemi Ito, later died in hospital.
Ms Wu, who friends said is either 20 or 21 years old, is recovering in a high-dependency ward at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
She declined to speak to The Straits Times yesterday.
Her friends who were visiting her, however, said she had just graduated from a hospitality course at the East Asia Institute of Management.
A spokesman for the private school said yesterday that it was helping Ms Wu with her insurance claims.
A female friend, who declined to be named, said: 'This is really sad. We've just graduated and Wei Wei was supposed to fly home soon.'
Her friends also told The Straits Times that they had seen her with Mr Ma before, but declined to speculate on the nature of their relationship.
They also said that she has a boyfriend.
Ms Wu, who suffered a fractured leg in the accident, underwent an operation on Monday. Her condition is stable, although she is weak and has difficulty speaking, eating and walking.
Her parents are said to be making arrangements to fly to Singapore.
Asked if they had heard about talk going around that Ms Wu was a nightclub hostess, her friends said it was not possible. She was a full-time student and did not work in any job, they insisted.
'Wei Wei's from a reputable family. Her parents are financially sound. Why would she need to work as a hostess when her family can pay for everything?' said her female friend.
The late Ms Ito, the taxi passenger who died in Saturday's incident, was also formerly a student here.
Also in her 20s, she had studied interior design at Raffles Design Institute, a private school. She graduated last year.
Ms Ito's former classmates and lecturers visited her wake in Sin Ming Avenue on Monday after they read about the accident. Some of the classmates had spread the news on Facebook as well.
Ms Rosah Lopes, a programme coordinator of interior design at the school, described Ms Ito as 'kind, full of life and a truly lovely person'.
'We are all very saddened by the news of her passing and the loss of a promising, vibrant Raffles designer,' she said.
'She was well loved by her cohort and lecturers - we shall all miss her.'
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