A man suffered injuries after falling into a drain outside Northshore Plaza in Punggol on Saturday (1 April), suffering injuries to his waist, knees and ankles.
According to Shin Min Daily News; the man, 36-year-old accountant Mr Xu, was with his children at the playground outside Northshore Plaza on 1 April at about 12 pm.
He then walked across some concrete drain covers to throw away some rubbish while his children were playing at the playground.
One of the drain covers that he stepped on suddenly broke and he then fell into the drain – for context on how deep the drain was, Xu is about 1.8 metres tall and his entire body was inside the hole.
He told SMDN that it was “shocking” and likened it to a free fall ride at amusement parks.
Xu managed to break his fall with his quick reflexes and prevented himself from suffering even more serious injuries.
Two men who were in the vicinity when the incident happened, came forward and helped to pull him out of the drain, with one of them offering to call for an ambulance, which Xu rejected because he didn’t want to scare his children.
Xu later told the management of the shopping mall about what happened and warned other people not to fall into the drain, which has since been cordoned off – a sign was also placed above the hole where he fell to warn others of the hole.
Speaking to SMDN, Xu added that had it been an elderly person or a child who had fallen into the drain, the consequences would have been much worse.
He said that he suffered an injury to his waist and some scratches on his knees and ankles, and said that the whole situation was risky because the hole was close to the playground where many children were playing and running around, as well as a few skaters skateboarding in the vicinity.