SINGAPORE: A gas leak occurred on Sunday morning at Gilstead Road off Dunearn Road in Bukit Timah, after a pile of concrete blocks from a construction site toppled over.
No one was injured in the incident but SP PowerGrid said the impact and vibration of the toppled concrete blocks caused a gas leak from a gas valve, which was shut down by the SCDF.
The gas leak lasted for about an hour, but gas supply to residents was not affected.
The SCDF said they received a call about the incident at about 8.30am.
A fire engine and two support vehicles were deployed to the scene.
SCDF officers who were at the scene detected a smell of gas in the air.
A team on site traced the gas smell to a ball valve in a gas pipe in the vicinity.
Repair works were completed at about 10.30am.
Residents living nearby said they heard loud explosions and their apartments shook from the rumble.
One of them was Shingis Madakhmetov, who is from Kazakhstan, and lives at Evelyn Mansions.
He said the concrete blocks were on a metallic platform and that it had apparently given way.
He said the incident took place next to two churches that conduct services every Sunday.
"The noise woke me up; my initial reaction was that something exploded," he said.
"I thought it was a big explosion or something.I looked out of my window and just saw blocks spilling on the street and just lots of smoke or dust coming out.
"Usually there are cars being parked along that street; luckily this morning, there were no cars. It was early enough and not many people were walking along that street, but a lot of people do.
"When the thing broke down and the concrete blocks fell on the street, it took out a pretty large area and it could have taken some lives."
Police said some residents and church-goers from the nearby Life Bible-Presbyterian Church were also evacuated for safety reasons.
The affected area has also been cordoned off.
Residents said that's a problem for pedestrians who frequently use it to get to nearby Newton MRT Station.
"It's the shortest way to the MRT and I am feeling very unsafe now using this road, until the construction place is really safe. It's more of the safety which concerns me," said Uwe Hornik, a resident at Residences@Evelyn.
Others are concerned about a possible traffic congestion as the work week resumes on Monday.
Some residents said they had noticed that the pile of concrete blocks were slanting to one side since about a week ago.
Authorities said clean-up operations are expected to take about two days to complete.
The gas leak lasted for about an hour, but gas supply to residents was not affected.
The SCDF said they received a call about the incident at about 8.30am.
A fire engine and two support vehicles were deployed to the scene.
SCDF officers who were at the scene detected a smell of gas in the air.
A team on site traced the gas smell to a ball valve in a gas pipe in the vicinity.
Repair works were completed at about 10.30am.
Residents living nearby said they heard loud explosions and their apartments shook from the rumble.
One of them was Shingis Madakhmetov, who is from Kazakhstan, and lives at Evelyn Mansions.
He said the concrete blocks were on a metallic platform and that it had apparently given way.
He said the incident took place next to two churches that conduct services every Sunday.
"The noise woke me up; my initial reaction was that something exploded," he said.
"I thought it was a big explosion or something.I looked out of my window and just saw blocks spilling on the street and just lots of smoke or dust coming out.
"Usually there are cars being parked along that street; luckily this morning, there were no cars. It was early enough and not many people were walking along that street, but a lot of people do.
"When the thing broke down and the concrete blocks fell on the street, it took out a pretty large area and it could have taken some lives."
Police said some residents and church-goers from the nearby Life Bible-Presbyterian Church were also evacuated for safety reasons.
The affected area has also been cordoned off.
Residents said that's a problem for pedestrians who frequently use it to get to nearby Newton MRT Station.
"It's the shortest way to the MRT and I am feeling very unsafe now using this road, until the construction place is really safe. It's more of the safety which concerns me," said Uwe Hornik, a resident at Residences@Evelyn.
Others are concerned about a possible traffic congestion as the work week resumes on Monday.
Some residents said they had noticed that the pile of concrete blocks were slanting to one side since about a week ago.
Authorities said clean-up operations are expected to take about two days to complete.
