A man shared how his daughter put her hand inside a hand dryer that allegedly did not have a cover at Ion Orchard, and had her finger mangled by the fan blades inside.

Here is the story:

“So plenty of you guys have been asking what happened to Kara so I thought I’d just put it out here as simply and objectively as I can put it without delving too much into the emotions and the gory side of things.

We were having dinner at Ion Orchard and when we were done, the little one wanted to go to the toilet. Pretty normal stuff all in all that’s gone on for years without issue. So once she did her business, she went out with the helper to wash her hands, which the helper duly did. Once she was done, the helper then proceeded to wash her own hands. But there just 2 steps away from the helper and little one right next to her was a hand dryer to dry her hands. Again, not something a 5 year old should have much difficulty with doing.

Bones of finger reduced to dust

Within 2 seconds of attempting to do just that she had her finger crushed and amputated by a hand dryer that Ion Orchard allowed to continue to be serviceable without a vent covering. From her line it sight, she would be able to see the base of the hand dryer housing itself with a large gaping hole. The little one probably thinking it was a tissue dispenser or possibly even one of those Dyson “put your hand in” kind of hand dryer proceeded to put her hand in and her finger got mangled by the fan blades.

The damage was extensive enough that the bones on her finger were reduced to nothing but little stones and dusty white powder.

I was picking up little pieces of her bones and holding them in my hand hoping to bring them to the hospital in some sliver of hope that it may be salvageable. Again, an experience I wish no father on earth will ever go through.

Staff allegedly couldn’t open dryer cabinet

The technical crew and management staff came down to tend to the matter and to my horror, couldn’t even find the right keys to unlock the cabinet that was housing the hand dryer. A clear impression that no form of care or orderly maintenance is done for these working equipment. They finally found one key to unlock the bottom lock, but further struggled to unlock the top lock. They eventually got the cabinet open by prying open the entire cabinet.

So as a result of this breach of duty of care, my little one is left with slightly less than half her index finger, a trauma no human being should ever experience, psychological damage not only for all of us who attended to her but for her who understandably so, is afraid of entering a toilet space.

She would now stare in fear at any hand dryer or any paper dispenser in the toilet and would much rather wipe her hand on her own clothes than go near any of those items that were created to make our lives better.

It is a devastating event I wish no parent or child should ever go through with. Ever.

My wish is to one day be able to complete Kara and make her whole again with a functional prosthetic finger. I have faith that one day medical technology can advance to a stage where I can make this dream a reality. But till then, my tender 5 year old baby girl has to walk down the road of life with the stares and questions that others will have for her, and constantly having to mentally relive that awful event.”

Source: Nick Matthew Chia on Facebook