She heard an explosion and a piercing scream, then saw clouds of black smoke emanating from the food stall opposite hers at the Old Airport Road Food Centre.

The 53-year-old kway chap stall owner, who wanted to be known only as Madam Oh, told The New Paper: “There were two workers there. The scream came from the worker who had been flung to the floor by the explosion.

“He lay on the floor, blood streaming down his arms.

“I was scared. I quickly grabbed my wallet, pulled down the shutters and ran.”

The incident happened yesterday at Xin Mei Congee stall at the popular food centre.

The police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were alerted to the fire around 10am.

Four people were injured: two Union Energy Corporation workers who suffered burns to their arms, their manager who had a cut on his right arm, and a 52-year-old worker at a fish porridge stall located behind the one that caught fire.

She suffered burns to her arms and hands.

The fire was extinguished by a sprinkler system before SCDF’s arrival.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the flash fire was caused by repair work on the gas supply to the food stall, said SCDF.

Mrs Steven Ng, whose husband owns a fish soup stall, said there were three explosions.

“The first happened in the middle of the store where the workers were changing the gas pipes, then it travelled up the pipes and sparked a second explosion.

“It exploded near the air vent a third time, near the ceiling,” she said.

“I didn’t even notice if other people were running away because I was panicking.”

Fortunately, the food centre was not crowded at that time, she added.

When TNP visited the scene at about 11.45am yesterday, cleaners were clearing puddles of water near Xin Mei Congee stall.

CLOSED

Kitchen utensils lay on tables around the unit. Inside the stall, noodles were strewn all over the floor and water was dripping from a shelf.

Stall owners said the gas supply for the food centre was turned off for about an hour following the incident.

Ms Huang Pei Shan, 30, a public affairs manager, said she had stopped by for breakfast.

“But the stall owners told me they were not selling anything because the gas had been turned off. So I left,” she said.

Madam Oh, who reopened her stall for business around 11.30am, was upset.

“I lost $400 to $500 because my food is usually sold for breakfast,” she said.

Mr Vincent Lim, 47, the owner of Xin Mei Congee stall, arrived at about noon. He found out about the fire from a phone call at 11am.

“The first thing I was worried about was the safety of the people,” he said.

He added that he had closed his stall yesterday for the workers to change the old gas pipes.

When contacted, Union Energy Corporation, the gas company doing the work, declined to comment.

Mountbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan, who was at the scene around noon, told TNP: “At the end of the day, lives are more important. Burns can also turn bad and lead to death.

“Union gas says that the stall will be referred to their insurance company so compensation will not be an issue.”

This article was first published on August 3, 2016.
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The Immigrations & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) is advising all motorists arriving into Singapore to avoid using the Tuas Checkpoint following an incident where two tentage canopies collapsed on Wednesday (Aug 3) morning.

In an initial Faceboook post at 7am, ICA said the incident happened at about 5.35am and motorists can expect delays.

In an update at about 10am, ICA said that two canopies at the arrival motorcycle and car lane fell due to “very strong winds and heavy thunderstorm.”

A Malaysian motorcyclist and his pillion rider were injured and taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital in Jurong. No drivers in the car zone were injured, said ICA.

ICA said: “The traffic situation is gradually resuming to normalcy and clearance of the fallen structure is ongoing.”

Motorists using the Second Link are urged to check for the latest traffic updates via the Land Transport Authority’s One Motoring website or MyTransport.SG portal before they embark on their journey.

For safety reasons, arriving cars and motorcycles are being diverted to other zones for clearance. Motorists are advised to co-operate with officers on site. ICA said it will ensure that safety and border security will not be compromised while traffic is being managed.

“We apologise for the inconvenicen caused and seek the understanding from travellers using the checkpoint,” added ICA.

Social media users took to Facebook to post photos of the scene of the collapsed tentages and traffic jam.

sujint@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE – The popular Song Kee Fishball Noodles at Upper Serangoon Road, once crowned one of Singapore’s Hawker Masters, has closed its doors.

In a surprise Facebook post on Monday (Aug 1), it said that operations at 532, Upper Serangoon Road ended on July 30 and thanked customers for their patronage.

The post has been shared close to 200 times, and commented on 85 times, mostly by fans lamenting the closure.

The stall was famous for its fishballs, fish dumplings and tau pok stuffed with fish paste, all of which were made from scratch from yellowtail fish.

But that commitment to quality may have been what caused its shutters to fall for the last time.

One of the owners, Mr Chua Poh Seng, 44, told Chinese daily Shin Min Daily News on Tuesday (Aug 2) that while business was good, manpower was short and the time-consuming labour of making thousands of fishballs by hand took its toll on his body.

“We have considered closing the stall two years ago, the main reason being that manpower is short,” he told Chinese newspaper Shin Min.

“We have to make 2,000 fishballs, 400 meatballs and 1,000 fish dumplings a day, and that is very time consuming.”

His hand is injured and his body often aches. “I can’t even hold a can of Coca-Cola properly.”

Mr Chua also told Shin Min that the popularity of the stall has meant that he had to mobilise his entire family to help out. He said that he is worried that that would affect the studies of his five children, who are all still in school.

He also cited the stall’s irregular hours and expiring lease, which ends at the end of September, as reasons for the closure.

Mr Chua ran the stall with his two older brothers, Mr Chua Soo Meng and Mr Chua Soo Chai. It opened in Toa Payoh in 1966, before moving to Jurong East in 1989. Twenty years later, it moved to its Serangoon location. Their father, Mr Chua Keok Sip, retired in 2011.

The Straits Times (ST) food critic Wong Ah Yoke praised the handmade fishballs when Song Kee was named a Hawker Master for fishball noodles in 2013.

“Song Kee’s freshly made fishballs have just the right bounciness and a distinct fish flavour. The mee pok is smooth, doesn’t stick together and yet is not too hard either. The soup version is tasty too and I like the crispy bits of fried lard in it,” he wrote.

The youngest Mr Chua told ST then that the stall sold about 400 bowls of noodles a day. He also said that his wife and kids help to clean the stall and wash dishes.

He told Shin Min on Tuesday that customers can to go stalls run by their relatives at Block 74, Toa Payoh Lorong 5 and Block 139, Simei Street 1.

This article was first published on August 2, 2016.
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