Explosions rock Bay area

By Teh Joo Lin & Carolyn Quek

SEVERAL explosions rocked the Marina Bay area on Thursday afternoon when some acetylene cylinders fell off a lorry on its way to a construction site.
The lorry belonged to logistics company UBTS, which had been contracted by gas firm Soxal to deliver the cylinders to a customer at the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort work site, a spokesman for Soxal told the Straits Times.

The spokesman said three racks carrying six cylinders of acetylene each, tumbled off the lorry and fell onto the road as it was negotiating the turn into Marina View at about 2.40pm.
The impact of the accident caused five cylinders, weighing about 50kg each, to rupture resulting in the fire, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said.

Firefighters set up two water jets and the fire was brought under control within 10 minutes, the SCDF added.

The Manpower Ministry said it was investigating the cause of the fire with the police and the SCDF.

No one was hurt in the accident but its impact could also be felt by office workers working in the Central Business District.

The sound of the explosion alarmed workers on neighbouring construction sites such as Mr Samsul Late Abdul Samad, a Bangladeshi worker from the nearby Marina Bay Financial Centre site.

The 37-year-old worker from Kiong Siah Engineering said he first saw smoke and then heard three to four loud explosions. 'My friend told me to run somewhere safe,' he said.

An eyewitness also claimed he saw a cylinder fly into the sky, landing metres away from the lorry.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.

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