A fire at at a dormitory housing foreign workers along Geylang Lorong 4 last Saturday took the lives of four Malaysian men, and left many others injured, including two firefighters who were putting out the blaze.
According to TODAY, the fire broke out in the wee hours of the morning on the ground floor of a three-storey walk-up apartment, which reported housed 100 foreign workers from China, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia. It is believed that the tenants exceeded the housing capacity, and that illegal partitions may have been set up to create 11 rooms.
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers reported that the fire was located at the core of the unit, and was extinguished within half an hour.
UPDATE: Geylang shophouse fire kills 4. 1 more person subsequently succumbed to injuries http://t.co/WBSUrVYcN0 pic.twitter.com/N6ATxDCjMJ
— AsiaOne (@sphasiaone) December 6, 2014
Three of the victims were found unconscious at the scene and paramedics pronounced them dead at the scene. The fourth casualty succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Eight victims — including two firefighters — were conveyed and treated at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
All four casualties had been working as cleaners here.
Residents living on the upper stories above the affected unit remarked that they escaped the blaze by claiming out the window and sliding down a lamp post.
Police have classified the blaze as a case of unnatural death; investigations are ongoing.
Photo: The National Guard via Flickr
A fire at at a dormitory housing foreign workers along Geylang Lorong 4 last Saturday took the lives of four Malaysian men, and left many others injured, including two firefighters who were putting out the blaze.
According to TODAY, the fire broke out in the wee hours of the morning on the ground floor of a three-storey walk-up apartment, which reported housed 100 foreign workers from China, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia. It is believed that the tenants exceeded the housing capacity, and that illegal partitions may have been set up to create 11 rooms.
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers reported that the fire was located at the core of the unit, and was extinguished within half an hour.
UPDATE: Geylang shophouse fire kills 4. 1 more person subsequently succumbed to injuries http://t.co/WBSUrVYcN0 pic.twitter.com/N6ATxDCjMJ
— AsiaOne (@sphasiaone) December 6, 2014
Three of the victims were found unconscious at the scene and paramedics pronounced them dead at the scene. The fourth casualty succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Eight victims — including two firefighters — were conveyed and treated at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
All four casualties had been working as cleaners here.
Residents living on the upper stories above the affected unit remarked that they escaped the blaze by claiming out the window and sliding down a lamp post.
Police have classified the blaze as a case of unnatural death; investigations are ongoing.
Photo: The National Guard via Flickr