SINGAPORE: As smoke engulfed their Joo Seng Road flat at about 9pm on Monday (May 4), a couple in their 80s called their daughter on the phone, desperate for help.<\/p>\n
She told them to hide in the bathroom with the helper and wait for rescuers. She also notified her brother, who rushed over from his home in Springleaf.<\/p>\n
Both children live in their own homes.<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s son, Ang Eek, said his parents and the helper were asleep when fire engulfed an 18th-floor unit directly below their flat at Block 14 Joo Seng Road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was smoke all around. My father panicked and called my sister, who told them to hide in the toilet,\u201d he recounted.<\/p>\n
His parents were eventually rescued by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum can\u2019t walk, so I think (firefighters) had to carry her down to the void deck,\u201d said Ang, 57, who works in finance.<\/p>\n
The Straits Times understands that the elderly couple were among eight people taken to Singapore General Hospital. All of them suffered smoke inhalation.<\/p>\n
Potong Pasir MP Alex Yeo, who oversees the area, said in a Facebook post on May 4 that residents in the entire block were evacuated.<\/p>\n
Preliminary findings by SCDF indicate the fire could have been intentionally started. A 44-year-old man was arrested at the scene for fire by mischief, said the police.<\/p>\n
Several residents told ST that the suspect lives with his elderly parents in the 18th-floor unit.<\/p>\n
They said he had a habit of burning incense almost every day for three years. According to ng, the smoke would waft into his parents\u2019 home.<\/p>\n
His father, a retired artist, took several videos of the smoke blowing into his home.<\/p>\n
The videos also show someone holding out a tray with burning incense.<\/p>\n
Ang said he was worried about the incense smoke affecting his parents\u2019 health.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been neighbours for almost 40 years. We\u2019re not sure why (he\u2019s doing this),\u201d Ang said, adding that the man\u2019s parents apologised to his parents for the behaviour.<\/p>\n
Ang and his father had raised the issue with Yeo, the Housing Board and the town council.<\/p>\n
A letter from HDB dated March 31 stated that it was working with the relevant agencies to provide assistance to the family on the 18th floor.<\/p>\n
Ang said: \u201cWe\u2019re trying to be nice because we don\u2019t want to get his parents into trouble, but he\u2019s an adult, so it\u2019s hard to discipline him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ang\u2019s parents intend to move in with one of his siblings when they are discharged from the hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just glad that my parents are (okay). We\u2019re wondering how to renovate the place now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
When ST visited the block at about 1pm on May 5, several SCDF vehicles were parked downstairs. Police officers and SCDF personnel were walking around the affected units.<\/p>\n
Town council staff were seen cleaning up debris on the floor.<\/p>\n
A resident of the block, who preferred to remain anonymous, said she often visited the 18th-floor unit to have her hair dyed by the suspect\u2019s mother, who is a hairdresser.<\/p>\n
She said the man would often burn incense in the unit while she was there, adding that some customers stopped going there because of the smoke.<\/p>\n
The woman, who last visited the unit in April, described the flat as very cluttered. \u201cWhenever I enter the house, I have to squeeze past a lot of things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
ST has contacted Jalan Besar Town Council for comment. – The Straits Times\/ANN<\/p>\n
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