---
title: "Woman, 25, who died after Chinatown accident had just been promoted, was planning to get married"
url: "/trending-now/woman-25-who-died-after-chinatown-accident-had-just-gotten-promoted-work-was-planning-get-married"
published: "2026-10-26T10:03:37.000Z"
updated: "2026-10-26T10:34:54.000Z"
section: "Trending Now"
authors: ["Cherlynn Ng"]
tags: ["death","fatal accident","heartbreaking","accident","Chinatown","drink driving"]
---

# Woman, 25, who died after Chinatown accident had just been promoted, was planning to get married

She had just gotten a promotion at the Chinatown restaurant she worked at and was planning to get married next year.

Things were finally looking up for Tan Mei Zhen, who had much to look forward to, after years spent struggling to make ends meet.

But on Oct 17, the 25-year-old’s life was tragically cut short after she was hit by a car outside Birds of A Feather at Amoy Street, where she had been working for four years.

“She was an intern and then a part-time worker, and then full-time,” Mei Zhen’s siblings told Stomp at her wake on Oct 26. “Recently, she just got promoted to restaurant manager.”

Mei Zhen had been waiting for her Grab ride home with her manager when the fatal accident involving three cars occurred at around 12.40am. Both were taken to hospital.

A 37-year-old woman was arrested for drink driving, Stomp earlier reported. A male driver sustained minor injuries but declined conveyance to hospital.

Mei Zhen died on Oct 23 after being pronounced brain dead. She was the sixth of nine siblings.

## Victim had no time to react before being struck by car

Her fiance, who was the first to be informed about the accident, knew something was amiss when he received a call from Mei Zhen’s manager — unusual for the late hour.

“I didn’t know how to react because everything was too sudden,” he said, adding that he was “pretty shocked”.

“Her manager said their Grab ride was only a minute away when this car suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They had no space, or rather, no reaction time at all to move anywhere. The impact was very fast and very big.”

![Chinatown accident victim dies after promotion, wedding plans](https://cassette.sphdigital.com.sg/image/stomp/41d0d17b1c3a425fad065a1b3d2a068d1b6996d51ea929676a7462a482180ea5)
*A 37-year-old woman was arrested for drink driving.*

According to Mei Zhen’s fiance, she was in surgery for almost 13 hours.

“When we finally got the chance to see her, her condition was super critical and she was on 100 per cent life support because her heart had stopped for a few times on the way to hospital,” he recounted.

“She had fractures, an injured lung, her kidneys and liver were all badly affected. She had a lot of internal bleeding as well.”

The couple had been engaged for almost five years, with plans to get married in 2027 and a BTO on the way.

## A cheerful and easy-going person who sacrificed for family

Mei Zhen had spoken to her family over the phone just minutes before the accident. She wanted to let her father know that she had the next day off work.

“One minute, she was informing our father that he did not have to wake her up the next day,” her brother told Stomp tearfully. “The next minute, we were told she was in the A&E and then the operating theatre.”

Mei Zhen’s siblings describe her as cheerful, easy-going and extremely independent.

“She took very good care of her family,” her brother shared.

“Although she was financially struggling, she never showed it and would always do her best by giving our parents an allowance.

“No matter how hard she was struggling or how bad things got, she would find a solution to earn money on her own and to survive.”

Not only had she paid her own school fees, Mei Zhen also worked part-time instead of asking her parents for money, said her elder sister.

“She was really young,” her brother added. “She was not 70 or 80 years old, that sort of thing, so my parents are very upset.”

Things have been looking up in recent years for the family of 11, who used to live in a one-room flat. Part of this was attributed to Mei Zhen helping to reduce her family’s financial burden.

## Family hoping for justice

Mei Zhen’s family hopes for “justice” and said they had looked into penalties for drink driving — an offence that they feel needs to be “taken seriously”.

“Is two or three years in jail enough justice?” they asked. “Is my sister’s life worth only a sentence of two or three years?”

Mei Zhen had not done anything wrong and had been responsible her entire life, her siblings noted.

“She spent all her time taking care of our family and working,” said her brother as he broke down in another wave of tears.

“Just like that, she’s gone at 25. It’s not fair.”

Stomp has contacted the police for more info.