SINGAPORE (The Straits TImes/Asia News Network): Two children were taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) on Thursday (April 27) after a second-hand air-conditioner in a Housing Board flat in Redhill caught fire and exploded.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that it was alerted to a fire at Block 110 Jalan Bukit Merah at 3.40pm on Thursday.
The fire involved an air-conditioner in a bedroom of the flat on the eighth floor and was extinguished using a fire extinguisher.
An SCDF spokesman said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Neighbours who witnessed the incident told Chinese news outlet Shin Min Daily News they saw black smoke emanating from the flat.
Shin Min reported that three people – a 19-month-old girl, an eight-year-old boy and a woman, believed to be the two children’s mother – ran out of the flat after the air-conditioner unit caught fire.
Moments later, the air-conditioner exploded, eyewitnesses said.
The children’s father, who identified himself as Tan, told Shin Min that he had picked up the second-hand air-conditioner unit 1½ years ago after a neighbour living on the same floor moved out and left it behind.
Tan, a 34-year-old driver, said in the report: “My daughter had just been born at the time and her skin was sensitive to the heat, developing rashes and getting itchy. So I took the air-con unit which was left behind and installed it in our home.”
The Straits Times has contacted the Tanjong Pagar Town Council, which oversees the area where the flat is located, for comment.
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