20171013 Four taken to hospital after e-bike left charging catches fire
Singapore Oct 13 2017 “Houses”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 1 to 9
Four taken to hospital after e-bike left charging catches fire
Updated: 2017-10-13 05:00
A family had to escape through their bedroom window with a five-day-old baby after an electric bicycle left charging overnight in the common corridor of an HDB block caught fire.
Singapore Civil Defence Force officers smashed the bedroom window of a second-floor unit to lead 11 people, who lived in the four-room flat, down a ladder. The baby’s parents had to risk leaving through the front door as the mother is recovering from a caesarean section.
The incident occurred at Block 231, Bukit Batok East Avenue 5, at 3.50am yesterday, the SCDF said in a Facebook post.
Four people were taken to the National University Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries. They were the baby’s parents, the infant and a woman who lives next door. They were still under observation at the hospital last night.
The baby’s 24-year-old aunt, who gave her name only as Ms Nur, said: “We woke up after 3am because we heard loud popping sounds and when we opened the door, we saw a lot of smoke.”
The family called 995 and the SCDF helped them to escape from the flat. They later returned to their flat, which needed cleaning up.
Ms Nur said: “Some parts of our ceiling and walls were blackened by the smoke, and the cables were damaged. We just got our power back around 8pm.”
The common corridor and living room of another flat were razed by the fire, which was put out with a water jet. The SCDF’s preliminary investigations showed that the fire had been caused by the overnight charging of an e-bike.
ST understands that the flat, which had its living room razed, belongs to the e-bike owner. Ms Nur said the e-bike owner usually charges the bike outside the unit.
Web Source: Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/four-taken-to-hospital-after-e-bike-left-charging-catches-fire