A 42-year-old man was apprehended under the Mental Health Act on Sunday (4 Oct) morning after he was seen standing on an aircon ledge of an HDB block in Bukit Panjang.
Videos showed the man perched precariously on the eighth-floor ledge of Block 635B Senja Road, reported Shin Min Daily News.
Source: Google Maps
According to the footage provided by a witness, the man, who was wearing a blue T-shirt and black shorts, put one leg over the railing at one point, scaring the crowd that had gathered to watch.
In another heart-stopping moment, he stood on the aircon compressor itself, swaying unsteadily.
The witness told the Chinese daily that rescuers conducted an operation across the seventh to ninth floors to bring the man to safety.
Many rescuers were also seen at the foot of the block. Some deployed a safety life air pack while another team went upstairs to deploy a net down the side of the block, usually installed by Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) personnel before they rappel down during a rescue.
The footage also showed the point of rescue — at the instant that the net was deployed, a rescuer rushed out of an eighth-floor window to grab the man while he was caught off-guard.
At the same time, three others rappelled down from the ninth floor to provide backup.
The man was heard shouting and struggling, but he was successfully brought to safety, to cheers and applause from the crowd.
Source: SRX
In response to queries from MS News, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said it received a call for assistance from the block at about 9am on Sunday.
When officers arrived, they saw a 42-year-old man sitting on the ledge of a residential unit.
Officers from SPF’s Crisis Negotiation Unit and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were activated as it was assessed that he might pose a danger to himself.
SCDF, which was alerted at the same time, told MS News that they found the man standing on the aircon ledge outside the kitchen window of a unit on the eighth floor.
They set up a safety life air pack below the block as a precautionary measure.
DART rescuers then rappelled from the unit above and brought the man to safety at about 9.50am — about 50 minutes after the alert.
He was conveyed to Woodlands Hospital in a conscious state.
The man was also apprehended under Section 7(1) of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 2008, which states that the police can apprehend anyone believed to be a danger to themselves or others.
A neighbour who declined to be named later told Shin Min that the man appeared to be a resident of the unit that he stood outside of.
Arguments were occasionally heard coming from the flat, and loud noises were detected on the morning of the incident.
When reporters visited the unit, a young woman and a small boy of about four or five years old answered the door, but declined to speak.
In July, the Samaritans of Singapore said there were a total of 441 suicide deaths in 2024, with a 50% increase among adults aged 30 to 39.
Suicide is also the second leading cause of death among this age group.
65.8% of the deceased individuals were male.
Here are some helplines available for those struggling with mental health issues:
Also read: Man jumps from Ang Mo Kio block into safety life air pack, apprehended under Mental Health Act
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.