She was in the shower when she heard a scream. Her daughter then told her she saw crows attacking a woman.

The birds targeted the woman’s head, and by the time the crows were done, she had to be rushed to Changi General Hospital (CGH).

The Singapore Civil Defence Force told The New Paper it was alerted to the incident at Block 106, Pasir Ris Street 12, on Tuesday at 7.10pm.

A woman in her late 40s was taken to CGH in an ambulance with lacerations on her forehead.

Yesterday, the woman who heard the scream said: “My daughter told me she saw three or four children feeding crows.

“The crows flew around and attacked a woman. There was a lot of blood on the woman’s head. The blood had splattered on the ground and she was screaming.”

The woman was not the only one attacked that day.

Civil servant Ian Ng, 41, and his parents were also attacked by crows in the vicinity while on their way to a night market.

He said: “I saw a baby crow lying on the ground and four or five big crows perched on shelters and lamp posts. The crows swooped down when people walked into the area. A crow went for my head. I got a shock.”

Mr Ng was attacked once while his 77-year-old father was attacked twice.

Fortunately, they did not suffer serious injuries.

The younger Mr Ng said: “The crows attacked us with their beaks, but luckily it was not painful.”

He then called the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).

CULLING EXERCISE

Residents told TNP they heard what they thought was the sound of shooting yesterday morning and believed it could have been the authorities conducting a culling exercise.

AVA told TNP it received two calls on crow attacks on Tuesday, and activated its contractor to conduct crow management works.

One crow’s nest was removed.

AVA said: “We will continue to monitor the situation, and conduct surveillance and operations within the area.

“The public can do their part by not feeding the birds and ensuring proper food waste disposal. Easily available food sources will encourage the birds to congregate and result in an increase in their numbers, which could result in related nuisance and hygiene issues.”

When TNP visited the area yesterday morning, bloodstains were found at the void deck of Block 105.

No crows were spotted.

Mr Chong Joo Chong, 63, a Block 103 resident, said he was attacked by a crow yesterday afternoon.

He told TNP: “A huge crow went for my head thrice. It was aggressive. I saw another man being attacked by two big crows and a small one.

“It felt like someone was pushing my head with a lot of force.”

AVA received about 500 calls on crow attacks in 2015 and about 320 last year.

It said the public can call 1800-4761-600 to report crow attacks or crow-related issues.

myklim@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 19, 2017.
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The moment he stepped out of school at about 5pm, Madam Tan’s son, 7, started vomiting.

Her mother-in-law had just picked up the Primary 1 pupil on Jan 5, after his third day at Oasis Primary School.

He told his grandmother he had been holding it in until she had picked him up.

He continued vomiting on the way home, which was next to the school.

Madam Tan took him to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital about an hour later.

He stopped vomiting only at midnight after taking some medication. He was discharged at 3am.

Madam Tan’s son was one of 62 people struck down with vomiting and diarrhoea at Oasis Primary School in Punggol over the past week.

On Tuesday, Lianhe Wanbao first reported about the outbreak. That same day, according to some parents, the school sent a message to parents about the incident.

It said the school had found a number of pupils absent had symptoms of vomiting and the relevant authorities had been notified.It also mentioned they were disinfecting the school premises and conducting daily temperature taking exercises.

Madam Tan said her son vomited about six to seven times from the time he left school until midnight. He was absent from school for two days.

She said: “I was really worried about him, because he only just started school and fell sick within the first week.”

When The New Paper met the mother of another two pupils outside the school, she said her daughter, who is a Primary 2 pupil there, also experienced vomiting and diarrhoea on the third day of school.

Her daughter returned to school the next day, but her son, who is in Primary 1, only went back on Jan 9.

She said: “I just want to forget about it. They were only sick for a day, so they were only mildy affected.”

INSPECTION

On Tuesday, a joint statement by the Ministry of Health, National Environment Agency, Agri-food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore and the Public Utilities Board said an inspection of the school canteen was conducted on Jan 9. There were no hygiene lapses detected during the inspection.

PUB had also conducted water quality tests on samples collected from the school on Jan 7 and found it safe for drinking.

Yesterday, the principal of Oasis Primary School, Mrs Ong-Chew Lu See, said the school had conducted a thorough cleaning of the premises followed by a disinfection of the whole school. The Student Care Centre and school buses were also disinfected daily.

Teachers looked out for pupils who were unwell and conducted daily temperature taking for pupils. Staggered recess times were introduced to prevent mass gatherings of pupils.

Mrs Ong-Chew said: “We fully understand our parents’ concerns. Just like our students’ parents, the school’s foremost concern is similarly the well-being of our students.

“We are heartened to note that the parents whom we reached out to are reassured by the school’s measures.”

Parents can also reach out to teachers through the class messenger mobile application should they have any concerns.

tanpya@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 19, 2017.
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On Tuesday night, a customer posted a video of a rat nibbling on food in a display cabinet on the Facebook page of a restaurant he thought belonged to Mr Saravanan.

But the 30-year-old knew it was a case of mistaken identity and did not think much of it.

He contacted the customer privately and deleted the post.

But when he continued receiving WhatsApp messages and calls from other customers, he realised he had a problem on his hands.

Mr Saravanan runs Sangeetha Bhavan with his father at Kitchener Road. It sells Indian and Pakistani vegetarian food.

The video of the rat began circulating via WhatsApp.

But the restaurant in the video is Sangeetha Vegetarian Restaurant, which has outlets in India, Malaysia and Hong Kong. It does not have outlets in Singapore.

Mr Saravanan said one woman even called to say she had notified the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Sangeetha Bhavan clarified on Facebook yesterday that the logo, shop name and layouts were all different. Plus, Sangeetha Bhavan neither has a display case nor does it sell sweets.

The New Paper visited Sangeetha Bhavan yesterday afternoon and saw two NEA officers there.

Mr Saravanan’s father, who owns the restaurant but declined to be named, said: “They should check before spreading (the video). They should know it can spoil people’s lives.”

Social media expert Lars Voedisch said: “There will always be people who knowingly or unknowingly send out false information, but the public should take some responsibility and check before sending it out.”

hmang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 19, 2017.
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Singapore’s water supply was given a boost with the launch of a fifth Newater plant at Changi yesterday.

It is also the first to be jointly developed by a foreign and local company.

The $170 million plant is able to produce 50 million gallons of Newater a day and will supply the PUB water for 25 years.

The plant, which spans 49,000 sq m, produces enough water to fill 92 Olympic-sized swimming pools a day.

This article was first published on Jan 19, 2017.
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SINGAPORE – A garden piazza, a butterfly lodge and a dining theatre that serves dishes from the school’s garden will be some of the things you will find at a new childcare centre that will open by mid-2018.

Set in Sengkang Riverside Park, it will have 400 places.

Three other mega childcare centres will also begin construction this year and are due for completion at the same time – two in Punggol that will have 1,000 places and one in Bukit Panjang with 300 places.

This brings the number of large childcare centres to nine, said the Early Childhood Development Agency.

Details of the Sengkang centre – the first in Singapore to be located in a park – were revealed at a ground-breaking ceremony yesterday.

The state-of-the-art campus will have a cocoon-like structure so that it will look like a “rolling hill” on the park, and blend seamlessly with the environment.

The campus will have a site area of 4,000 sq m and built-up area of 3,600 sq m – almost four times the size of an average childcare centre.

Operated by anchor operator Skool4kidz, which runs 11 childcare centres islandwide, it will be completed by the fourth quarter of this year.

Full-day fees will cost an estimated $720 for children aged between 18 months and six years. Infant care fees for children aged between two and 17 months will cost an estimated $1275.

Skool4kidz’s curriculum founder, Dr Jane Ching-Kwan, said that being close to nature will allow the children to develop holistically.

She told The New Paper: “They will be able to learn about botany and insects by curiously examining the wide variety of plants and insects in the park’s eco-system…

A POSITIVE IMPACT

“Research has also shown that immersing in a natural environment has a positive impact on a child’s overall health.”

The other mega childcare centres will also be run by anchor operators – PAP Community Foundation in Punggol and NTUC My First Skool in Punggol and Bukit Panjang.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Sengkang centre yesterday, Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin reiterated the Government’s commitment to providing more quality and affordable pre-school options.

He said: “This centre at Sengkang Riverside Park is the result of a partnership with NParks, so that our children can easily participate in physical and outdoor activities.”

Mr Tan told Parliament last year that by this year, about 10,000 more places will be added, of which about a third will be in Punggol and Sengkang.

Mother of a 33-month-old girl and a two-week-old boy, Ms Joanne Goh, 34, told TNP that she faced many challenges enrolling her older daughter into a childcare centre in Punggol, where she is currently living with her parents.

She hopes that she will be able to enrol her children into the new Sengkang facility when she moves into the neighbourhood next year.

linheng@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 19, 2017.
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