Lee Lin Hui, from Puchong, said the official letter stated that her husband, Lim Ching, who was working with an offshore company as an engineer, died due to “confined space” in August last year.

“The cause of death was initially listed as ‘unknown’. But he died at his work place while working on an oil rig in Bintulu. I wonder how they could not have known,” she told a press conference today.

Wanting to get to the bottom of the matter, Lee started making endless enquiries to the health authorities, who stopped answering her calls after some time.

“This was when my nightmare started. I called the Bintulu Forensic Department every other week, with the staff asking me to wait a little longer each time I called.”

The mother of two did not give up and kept on calling the department until it no longer picked up her calls.

“I couldn’t move forward. My husband died and I didn’t know how he died,” she said, adding that she also could not proceed with personal insurance claims.

Desperate for answers, Lee walked into Subang MP Wong Chen’s service centre for help.

Wong, who was also at the press conference, said that after looking at the case, he asked his staff to immediately call the Bintulu Hospital.

“Within two weeks, the Bintulu Forensic Department officially told us the cause of death was due to a confined place,” he said.

He said the department should not have taken months to issue the report as it had caused unnecessary anguish.

He said although there was only one Forensic Department head for Sarawak, the health authorities needed to find ways to issue the death reports faster.

“I hope this doesn’t happen in the future where ordinary folk need to wait for months to get a reply on such important matters,” he said.