Six-year-old boy hurt by falling concrete at home
A piece of concrete fell from the toilet ceiling in an HDB flat and hit a six-year-old boy, resulting in a cut on his back.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the boy's mother said her son had been playing with water when the chunk of concrete fell on him.
Chinese-language evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that the boy's mother, who wanted to be known only as Syasha, said her son and her nephew were in the toilet, while she and her sister were outside.
CRIES
Ms Syasha said: "My sister and I suddenly heard cries coming from the toilet, and we thought the two boys had got into a fight. We didn't expect this to happen."
She quickly took care of her son's wound before calling for help.
In an updated post about an hour later, Ms Syasha said officers from the Housing Board and town council visited to do checks.
Her son was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. An X-ray was done and he had his wound dressed.
"Luckily (everything was fine) and no stitches (were) needed," she added.
In another post, Ms Syasha said her son was doing fine and remained active, and thanked everyone for their concern.
Ms Syasha told Lianhe Wanbao that the family had noticed cracks in the ceiling before the incident.
Responding to media queries, an HDB spokesman said it was alerted to an incident of spalling concrete. HDB officers had visited the unit in Henderson Road on the same day.
The spokesman added that spalling concrete occurs when the steel bars embedded in the ceiling start to corrode. Over time, this will cause the concrete to crack and part of it to fall off.
"This is a natural wear-and-tear process that occurs in older buildings, such as this flat, which is 45 years old," she said.
HDB officers helped the family clear the debris from the incident and repair works will be carried out tomorrow, added the spokesman.
HDB will bear the cost of repair as it is a rental flat.
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