Kembangan-Chai Chee NYE Fireworks Display Was Stopped Early
On the last day of 2021, Singaporeans were again deprived of a fireworks countdown at Marina Bay.
However, we at least had fireworks displays at 10 locations in the heartlands to look forward to.
While most of them would’ve gone off without a hitch, the event at Kembangan-Chai Chee had to be stopped early due to a stray projectile hitting an HDB block.
Thankfully, no injuries or damage were reported.
Incident caught on video
The incident came to attention when a netizen posted a video he took of the fireworks display, which took place at an empty field near Ubi Avenue 1.
In Mr Din Borok’s video, residents can be heard cheering at the spectacular pyrotechnics.
However, at about 1 minute 38 seconds in, a red fireworks projectile going in a sideways direction briefly hits and rebounds off the side of a nearby HDB block, somewhere at the top floor.
Mr Din can also be heard going, “Oh!”
Luckily, the fireworks didn’t go through the window, he said in his post.
Judging from the surroundings, the block that was hit appears to be Block 311.
Another video posted by a netizen named Brendon Chua offered an even closer view of the point of impact.
Fireworks end abruptly
According to the video, the fireworks ended abruptly after about 2 minutes plus.
This is compared to the displays in other estates like Bishan, where the display lasted for 3 minutes.
Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin, who’s an MP of Marine Parade GRC, also posted his own video of the display.
From his video, which was taken from Ubi Ave 1, the display indeed ended after about 2 minutes and 11 seconds.
Though, the point of impact couldn’t be seen from his angle, 1 of the projectiles did seem to come rather close to him.
Stray projectile hit external façade wall
The incident was addressed by a Facebook post on the Kembangan-Chai Chee community page on Saturday (1 Jan).
They said the stray projectile had hit the external façade wall of an HDB block.
Thus, the fireworks display was immediately stopped.
Family in unit report no injures & damage
The organisers then visited the unit concerned to ascertain the family’s safety.
Fortunately, they said nobody was hurt, and neither was there damage to their home, though the projectile had struck near a window.
However, only the outer façade wall was hit.
Kembangan-Chai Chee thanked the family and residents, and said they’re “working closely” with the fireworks vendor to find out what went wrong and how it can be avoided.
A close shave indeed
While fireworks are nice to look at, they can be deadly in close contact.
Thus, it was a close shave indeed, as if the projectile had entered the unit and hit somebody, the injuries would’ve been considerable.
A fire could also have broken out – which would’ve been a bad start to the New Year.
Hopefully, the authorities get to the bottom of the cause so this doesn’t happen again.
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Featured image adapted from Din Borok on Facebook.
