SINGAPORE – A man was arrested after creating a scene at Changi Airport Terminal 3 on Monday morning (April 25).
According local reports, the man was in a 2-hour stand-off with police as he stood on top of the roof of a check-in counter and refused to come down.
In a tweet from an eye-witness at 9.06am, Charlotte Corday posted: “There’s some rando(m) nutter standing on top of a check-in counter at Changi airport and no one seems to care.”
From photos posted on Twitter, the man was in a striped shirt and jeans, but did not have any shoes on.
In a later photograph, he was spotted with an umbrella and he had surrounded himself with some carton boxes.
Traveller Ms Cai, 35, who was at the airport at that time, told Shin Min Daily News that she had no idea how he got up there, but she estimated that he was probably standing 3 or 4m above ground.
According to Shin Min, some airport staff had attempted to persuade him to come down. They climbed up to talk to him but he waved his umbrella at them.
“He took off his shirt agitated,” said Ms Cai.
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call at about 10am and had sent a fire engine, a red rhino, two fire bikes, an ambulance and two support vehicles.
However, it was reported that the man eventually came down by himself, ending the stand-off.
He was apprehended before the SCDF arrived and their assistance was not needed.
While it is not known why the man had done this, it is understood that he was being repatriated back to Vietnam after being told he was supposed to make a work trip to Dubai.
maryanns@sph.com.sg
