Dressed in ceremonial attire, 58-year-old U. Silvakumar was with three other Hindu devotees on their way to a fire-walking ceremony on Sunday (Oct 23), when they noticed something amiss. Near a petrol station along Serangoon Road, they saw a crowd gathered around an elderly Chinese man who had collapsed — some people were fanning the man with scarves to help improve ventilation.
Silvakumar, an army military expert, quickly jumped in to help. After checking that the unconscious man had no pulse or signs of breathing, Silvakumar performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him. That was one of the images that went viral, thanks to passerby Kumar V, who took the photos, and his brother-in-law, who uploaded them on Facebook.