Race Course Road HDB flat fire: 88-year-old man dies

SINGAPORE – One of the victims of a fire in an HDB flat in Race Course Road on Aug 3 has died, the police said on Aug 5.

The 88-year-old man was among three people taken unconscious to hospital after the fire broke out at Block 684 Race Course Road.

They had been trapped, along with two others, in the fifth-floor unit before being rescued by the police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), who were alerted to the fire at 7.10pm.

Police officers had to force their entry into the locked flat in an attempt to save the occupants.

According to the SCDF, a bedroom in the flat was ablaze when firefighters arrived.

Three of the victims were taken to Singapore General Hospital and two to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said SCDF in a Facebook post on Aug 3.

The fire was extinguished with a water jet, SCDF added.

About 50 residents were evacuated from the block, police said.

Investigations are ongoing.

This is the third deadly fire in about a week.

On July 31, a fire in a Clementi flat left one person dead, and two firefighters were taken to hospital for burn injuries.

On July 28, a 70-year-old man died after a fire broke out in an HDB flat in MacPherson.