77-year-old woman dies after fire at Bukit Panjang flat

SINGAPORE: A 77-year-old woman has died after a fire broke out at a Pending Road flat on Monday (Sep 28), police said on Wednesday. 

She was one of two people taken to hospital following the fire in a sixth-floor Housing and Development Board unit at Block 126 Pending Road. 

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire at Block 126 Pending Road at about 3pm on Monday. 

Black smoke was coming from the unit when firefighters arrived. The fire, which involved items in the living room, was extinguished using one water jet.

During the firefighting operation, firefighters found an unconscious person in the living room and brought the person out of the flat, SCDF said in a Facebook post.

An SCDF paramedic and emergency medical technicians performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation before the person was taken to Woodlands Hospital, it added. 

Police said a 77-year-old woman was taken unconscious to hospital, where she subsequently died. A 62-year-old man was taken conscious to hospital.

SCDF said another person from a neighbouring unit was assessed for smoke inhalation and taken to Singapore General Hospital.

About 70 people were evacuated from the affected block as a precaution.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, SCDF said. Police investigations are also ongoing.

The latest incident comes amid a spate of fatal residential fires since late July. 

On Jul 28, a 70-year-old man died after a fire broke out in a flat at Block 39 Circuit Road. 

Three days later, a person died in a fire at Block 309 Clementi Ave 4 that also injured two firefighters. 

On Aug 5, an 88-year-old man died two days after a fire at Block 684 Race Course Road that trapped four others in the flat, while a 67-year-old man died after another fire broke out in a Jurong East flat on Aug 16.

Earlier this month, a 68-year-old man died after a fire broke out in a flat at Lorong Lew Lian on Sep 1.