HER lover may be dead, but Miss Dang Thi Tho still wants to marry him.

The 25-year-old Vietnamese, who nearly drowned when her married boyfriend dragged her into the sea, intends to have a ghost wedding when she returns to her country.

The man, a 35-year-old China national whose name she gave as Mr Yang, had wanted the two of them to drown together on Monday night at East Coast Park.

He felt it was the only way out because his wife in China wouldn’t agree to a divorce and Miss Dang had repeatedly refused to cohabit with him, she said.

Miss Dang, who put up a fierce struggle before losing consciousness, was rescued by passers-by, but Mr Yang drowned.

Speaking in Mandarin to The New Paper from her hospital bed yesterday, Miss Dang said: ‘When we were in the water, he was hugging me tightly at first but then he let me go after I resisted.’

DETERMINED

6 Aug, The New Paper.
Miss Dang, who works as a hairdresser in Vietnam, said she does not want to marry anyone else and insists she will go through with the wedding even if her parents object.

She said: ‘Regardless of whether he’s alive or dead, I want to always be with him.’

She said the wedding date would probably be on 10 Oct because that’s when they first met last year when she was visiting Singapore.

She recalled how Mr Yang said he wanted to move to Vietnam and set up a business with her.

‘He praised Vietnamese women for being loyal,’ said Miss Dang, who has been visiting Singapore every few months since her affair with Mr Yang started.

Their relationship was intense – whenever she was back in Vietnam, they would spend up to $1,000 a month on long-distance calls.

Mr Yang, who works in the renovation industry, makes about $2,000 a month.

DESPERATE

For her birthday last month, he even wanted to sell his blood because he had no money to get her a gift, said Miss Dang.

‘When he realised there was no such thing here, he told me that he would give me his life.

‘Recently when he quarrelled with his wife, he spoke of us dying together but I never thought he would actually do it,’ she said.

Although Miss Dang tried to maintain her composure during the interview, she broke down when her evening meal was served because there was a brinjal dish – which Mr Yang used to prepare for her once a week as it was her favourite food.

For five minutes, she stared at the dish as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She said: ‘He cooked it simply but it was delicious. He would feed it to me. Now I have to eat it alone. I miss him so much.’

Since the incident, she has had trouble sleeping. But whenever she does drift off, she dreams of him trying to lift her in his arms.

‘He often carried me when I was lazy and didn’t want to wake up in the mornings. But now, in my dream, his hands are too weak and he can’t lift me,’ she said.

Mr Yang leaves behind a son, aged 12, and a daughter who is in her teens.

Mr Yang had told Miss Dang about his marital status about a month after they started dating.

After the tragedy, she spoke to his wife on the phone.

Said Miss Dang: ‘His wife didn’t scold me. She said it was her husband’s fault. She said she would only have agreed to a divorce if he bought her a house, but he couldn’t afford it.

‘I did think of ending the relationship but we were so in love we couldn’t bear to do it.’

Miss Dang hopes to take Mr Yang’s ashes with her to Vietnam.

She said: ‘I will set up an altar together with pictures that we took. Even if his wife doesn’t let me have his remains, I know his heart will be with me because he only loved me.’
[Posted at: Ghost Wedding Lover ]