SINGAPORE \u2013 Three people were unconscious after a fire in an HDB flat in Little India on Aug 3.<\/p>\n
They were among five people trapped in a fifth-floor unit at Block 684 Race Course Road when firefighters arrived.<\/p>\n
One person was rescued by the police, and the other four were rescued by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).<\/p>\n
Three of the victims were taken to Singapore General Hospital and two to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said SCDF in a Facebook post on Aug 3.<\/p>\n
The Straits Times understands that four of the victims are in their 70s and 80s, while one is over 50.<\/p>\n
SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at 7.10pm.<\/p>\n
Upon its arrival, a bedroom in the flat was on fire. It was extinguished with a water jet, said SCDF.<\/p>\n
An MP for Jalan Besar GRC, Denise Phua, arrived at the scene at about 8pm.<\/p>\n
She said town council staff were cleaning and clearing the area.<\/p>\n
Temporary accommodation has been arranged for a family member of the affected unit who had returned home later, and care packs have been sent to residents, she added.<\/p>\n
Several of the victims are above 70, Phua said.<\/p>\n
She thanked the agencies involved, rescuers, workers and volunteers for their efforts.<\/p>\n
When ST arrived at around 9.45pm on Aug 3, at least three SCDF vehicles were present. Water could be seen spraying out of a fifth-storey unit, and a <\/i><\/b>police cordon had been set up.<\/p>\n
The metal grille on the window on the fifth-floor unit seems to have come off almost entirely.<\/p>\n Three of the victims were taken to Singapore General Hospital and two to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n A resident who wanted to be known only as Ng and who lives in the opposite block, said that when he reached home at around 7pm, nothing was amiss.<\/p>\n But five minutes later, a neighbour alerted him to thick black smoke in the air. He noticed that it was coming out of the affected unit\u2019s window.<\/p>\n Ng, 65, who lives on the seventh floor of Block 685, said: \u201cIt all happened so fast, within a few minutes. It was so scary how black and fierce the smoke was from the window.\u201d<\/p>\n He tried to see if anyone was running out of the unit, but he saw that the door was shut.<\/p>\n \u201cI realised then that someone must have been trapped inside,\u201d said Ng, a retiree.<\/p>\n He said his neighbour told him that one of the victims is blind and another is unable to walk properly.<\/p>\n Ng added that he saw a woman being carried out on a stretcher.<\/p>\n Nur Maisha Romana, 17, who lives on the sixth floor of the affected block, said her flat was filled with thick smoke and it became hard for her family to breathe.<\/p>\n<\/picture><\/div>