Ceiling at JEM shopping mall collapses

SINGAPORE — A 50-metre portion of the ceiling at the first level of JEM shopping mall collapsed around 10pm tonight (Sept 18). Three women sustained minor injuries and were sent to the National University Hospital, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). A SCDF spokesman said it received a call at 10.14pm that “a part of the false ceiling” had collapsed. It dispatched seven vehicles, including two fire engines and an ambulance, to the scene. The cause of accident still under investigation. When TODAY reached the scene, the mall had been cordoned off and a pile of debris could be seen on the corridor between BreadTalk and Robinsons store. A manager at a jewellery shop on the first floor of the mall said he received a call from his staff around 9.50pm to inform him that they were being evacuated. He added that he heard from his staff that the water pipe had burst and the ceiling collapsed because it could not take the weight of the water. Ms Liana Jaapar, 23, a sales assistant at one of the retail shops, said she was about to lock up when she heard a loud bang. She was with four other colleagues and about five customers in the shop. “I was quite shocked and the water seeped in quite quickly,” she added. She noted that less there were less than 50 people around her while she was evacuating the building. The building was also cordoned off 5-10minutes after the evacuation, she added. Staff from the management at the mall were present at the scene but referred TODAY to their official spokesperson for comment. Ms June Othman said she was at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlet, when she and her friends “heard a boom, then the sound of water falling down”. “Curious we got up and saw the water cascading down ... I was right underneath the ceiling when I saw the roof started to fall down,” she recounted. As she backed away, more of the ceiling collapsed. “We ran outside ASAP. ... As we walked down to B1, we saw more water dripping from the ceiling. We kind of ran for our dear life, got into the car and drove away,” she said. “That was a scary life experience...(I) would not want to go to JEM for a while.” A MediaCorp hotline caller Lo Teik Yeu, 42, said shoppers were evacuated between 10pm to 10.30pm. He said was a lot of water on the ground when he left, and he saw three people being brought to an ambulance, with one person in a wheelchair. Twitter user Christy (@Ammorealis) told TODAY: “Almost the entire first floor save for top man and those stores near the taxi stand were flooded when I left”. JEM was officially opened on June 15. The official opening had to be delayed by a few days due to issues with fire safety permits for the tenants. There were two fires at the mall last month, including one at the FairPrice Xtra supermarket where three people were hurt when a deep fryer at the food counter caught fire.