If the words ‘Sky Tower in Sentosa’ or ‘Tiger Sky Tower’ ring no bells, don’t worry because you’re probably not alone.
The 110-meter tall attraction provides a vantage point for people who are willing to pay to enter and catch the views around Sentosa.
Roughly as high as 36 floors, it’s Singapore’s highest observation tower.
Pretty impressive features, so why is it closing down?
The tower has faced multiple mechanical glitches over the years, often times with passengers left stranded on board.
Here are at least 3 cases which may have set Tiger Sky Tower on a clear path towards its inevitable closure.
1. June 2010
A mechanical fault forced operations to be halted, leaving 36 people suspended 30m above the ground.
The guests, which included 3 elderly people and 8 children, were stuck in the gondola for about 2.5 hours.
They received biscuits and bottled water from an emergency supply stored in the gondola.
Operators of the ride, engineers from Sky Tower and personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) worked together to bring guests back down to the ground.
2. July 2010
Mechanical faults caused the ride to stop again, this time with 10 tourists on board.
The tourists were suspended 55m above ground because an uneven curvature on the track affected the balance of the cabin.
SCDF personnel reached them via an emergency staircase and led them back down the same way.
The rescue took less than 2 hours but we suspect that it was because there were much fewer people this time.
3. August 2017
7 years later, the same problem befell the Sky Tower as operations ceased due to a mechanical fault.
39 people were stranded 25m above the ground for about 4 hours.
It took the combined effort of SCDF personnel, Sentosa Rangers and engineers of Sky Tower to bring the gondola down.
Rescuers from SCDF’s Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) had to climb to the top of the tower and rappel down to check on the guests.
Sentosa Rangers had to assist Sky Tower engineers in manually cranking the gondola down.
We don’t know about you but we wouldn’t travel all the way to Sentosa just to visit the Sky Tower for amazing views.
There are plenty of more affordable and accessible alternatives for that within the city alone.
The best one is perhaps ION Sky located at levels 55 and 56 of ION Orchard. It’s right in town and free for all to enter.
There’s still some good news for curious Singaporeans who wanna check out Tiger Sky Tower before it closes down on 28 Dec.
From 1 Nov, standard tickets will be sold at $8.80 instead of the usual $18 per ride, while children’s tickets will go for $4.80.
So if you’re feeling nostalgic, go get your tickets soon.
If the new mid-range hotels at Sentosa are anything to go by, maybe we could expect to hear about new attractions too.
Featured image from Google Maps.
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