A man and a woman were rescued from their flat in Bukit Batok early this morning after a fire broke out in the living room.
The man, who suffered burn injuries, was unconscious when he was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, while the woman was sent to Singapore General Hospital for smoke inhalation, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said on Facebook today.
The fire broke out on the 26th floor of Block 293D Bukit Batok Street 21. SCDF said it was alerted to the incident at about 12:40am.
Two water jets were used to put out the blaze, which was traced to a pair of electric scooters, according to Murali Pillai, the member of parliament for the Bukit Batok single-member constituency (SMC). No further information was given as to how precisely the scooters caused the fire.
About 70 people were evacuated from the affected block during the incident. One, an elderly man, ended up making a visit to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital himself after being injured during the evacuation, SCDF said.
Dramatic scenes from the incident were recorded in a video shared on Facebook.
In the clip, about 10 people, some of them heard shouting in panic, can be seen carrying a fire hose to the house and attempting to break through the front door.
The quick action by residents garnered praise from netizens for their team spirit.
“The neighborliness spirit is awesome,” said Facebook user Yan Dao.
“Good team and neighbors. Keep the spirits up,” said another, Nana Herman.
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