Fire breaks out at Anson Road construction site; no injuries reported
SINGAPORE: A fire broke out on Anson Road at the construction site of the Tanjong Pagar Centre on Thursday evening (Mar 3). No one was injured, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
SCDF said the fire broke out at 6pm and involved construction materials occupying an area of about 10m by 10m at the ground floor of the construction site. The blaze was put out with two water jets and was extinguished within 10 minutes of their arrival.
Workers had self-evacuated prior to SCDF's arrival, it added.
Construction workers were also seen gathering at a grass patch along Wallich Street during and after the fire.
One of the workers told Channel NewsAsia that he did not see the fire break out as he was working in the basement, but was alerted by other workers. Upon emerging from the building, he saw smoke and only a “little bit of fire”. The workers were immediately ushered to the assembly point and waited there from about 6.30pm until 7.50pm, when they were told to start moving back to the worksite as “everything is okay”, he said.
Another construction worker from the same building who went by the name Raj said that it took about 15 minutes for the worksite supervisors to move all of the workers to the assembly point.
“Actually it’s nothing big, it was a very small fire,” he said.
In a statement to the media, Tanjong Pagar Centre's developer Guocoland Group said the fire broke out at 5.55pm and was put out at 6.15pm. "There were no casualties and all the workers are accounted for. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation," the developer said.
One lorry crane driver, Mr Goh Jing Xi, said he did not see what happened as he was in the opposite building, but said smoke about three to four metres high could be seen.
Eyewitness Anh Tran reported hearing a blast at the construction site. Channel NewsAsia understands that the fire was at a construction site near International Plaza.
"The fire's happening in front of the MRT station ... It seems like a small fire but there's lots of smoke coming from it. I'm not sure what time it started, I only noticed it at around 6:05pm," said Anh Tran.
Many reported seeing smoke from the fire from as far as Penang Road near Dhoby Ghaut, while one Channel NewsAsia viewers said the he saw the smoke while he was on a cable car.
- CNA/dl