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14 taken to hospital after tree falls in Sembawang Park

(SCREENSHOT: Google Maps)
(SCREENSHOT: Google Maps)

UPDATE: This article has been amended to include a statement and further details from the National Parks Board (NParks).

Fourteen people were conveyed to the hospital after a tree fell on a pavilion at Sembawang Park on Thursday evening (20 December).

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) responded to the incident at Beaulieu Road at about 5.55pm on Thursday. Rescue and medical resources were dispatched to the 15-hectare park.

There were no trapped casualties when SCDF arrived. The 14 individuals were conveyed to Khoo Teck Puat hospital by SCDF ambulances.

Yahoo News Singapore understands that they were under the pavilion at the time of the incident. The group was having a celebration, according to friends of the victims interviewed by the Straits Times.

The 14 people, aged between 19 and 44, are also colleagues from a transport company, according to the same Straits Times report.

In photos taken by various media outlets, the pavilion appears to be crushed under the weight of the fallen trees.

In response to queries from Yahoo News Singapore, National Parks Board (NParks) group director Chuah Hock Seong said that two trees, a tabebuia rosea and an erythrophleum suaveolens, uprooted in Sembawang Park at about 5.30pm.

The trees ranged in height from 18-21 metres and were more than 3 metres wide, and it was the latter tree that fell onto the pavilion.

At about 5.50pm, the National Environment Agency tweeted that moderate to heavy thundery showers with gusty wind was to be expected in the northern part of the island. It remains unclear if the weather caused the trees to uproot.

Chuan added that NParks is investigating the cause of the tree fall. “We understand that all the injured persons are in stable condition and we are in the midst of getting in touch with them and their families.”

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