Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan’s son injured in Singapore school fire; 10-year old girl dies

VIJAYAWADA: A 10-year-old girl died and 20 others, including Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s son, were injured after a fire broke out in a Singapore building on Tuesday, authorities said. The blaze erupted at a three-storey shophouse on River Valley Road, near Singapore's Central Business District (CBD), housing several businesses, including a cooking school, a theatre group and a robotics institute for children.

Pawan Kalyan’s younger son, Mark Shankar, sustained injuries in the fire at the school, his Jana Sena Party said in a statement released in Vijayawada. The incident caused burns to Mark’s hands and legs, while smoke inhalation also affected his lungs and he is currently receiving treatment in a hospital there, the Party said.

The Party, in a Facebook post, said Kalyan would travel to Singapore after completing his earlier commitments. Channel News Asia quoted Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who confirmed the fatality of the 10-year-old girl in the fire at the shophouse on the outskirts of the CBD.

20 people, including 15 children injured

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), in a Facebook post, said at least 20 people, including 15 children, have been taken to hospitals. Videos shared on social media showed black smoke billowing from the building and children perched on a third-floor ledge. Several bystanders, including construction workers, were seen climbing the scaffolding to rescue the stranded people.

Rescue ladders and a combined platform ladder were deployed to rescue the rest of the stranded people on the ledge, while firefighters proceeded to extinguish the blaze on the second and third floors of the building. Police and SCDF personnel evacuated around 80 people from the building and nearby premises and as many as 20 persons were taken to hospital.

“Our immediate priority is to provide urgent medical care to these patients and to lend support to the caregivers,” Associate Professor Sashikumar Ganapathy, head and senior consultant at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the K K Women's and Children's Hospital, said. The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained and an investigation is underway, the SCDF said.