SINGAPORE, April 8 (NNN-CNA) — One person died on Tuesday after a fire at a shophouse along River Valley Road. Four adults and 15 children were earlier taken to hospitals.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the incident at 278 River Valley Road at about 9.45am.
The three-story building is an education centre for young children operated by Orange Mood Group. It houses a cooking school – the Tomato Cooking School – and also hosts educational camps under the banner of Newton Show.
According to media reports out of India, the son of Indian political party leader Pawan Kalyanwas among those injured.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the JanaSena Party said the boy sustained injuries to his hands and legs and “faced breathing difficulties as smoke entered his lungs”.
The boy, identified by Indian media as Mark Shankar, was rushed to hospital and is receiving treatment.
The blaze was raging on the second and third floors of the shophouse when firefighters arrived.
Bystanders, including some construction workers, can be been seen climbing scaffolding in an attempt to rescue them.
“Several persons were on a ledge outside the third-floor unit. Members of the public, including construction workers, used a metal scaffolding and a ladder to reach those stranded and brought a number of them to safety,” SCDF said in a Facebook post.
Rescue ladders and a combined platform ladder were deployed to rescue the rest of the stranded people on the ledge, while firefighters proceeded to the second and third floors to fight the fire.
The fire was extinguished with three water jets within 30 minutes.
About 80 people in the shophouse and nearby premises were evacuated by the police and SCDF personnel, while a total of 19 casualties were taken to hospital, SCDF said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. — NNN-CNA
