Concrete Slab Falls From HDB Flat Ceiling, Strikes Boy's Back

Like a bolt from the blue, a six-year-old was struck on the back by a falling piece of concrete in the toilet at home.

"The worst nightmare for me and esp my son [sic]," the boy's mother Syasha wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday (May 19). "Happily playing with water end up, this. Concrete ceiling drop on his back. [sic]"

The attached photos showed a trickle of blood oozing down the child's dust-covered back, while several large shards of concrete lay next to the toilet bowl. A steel bar in her ceiling was also visible amid a large area of exposed concrete.

In an interview with Lianhe Wanbao, Syasha recounted how she and her sister were sitting outside when they heard screams coming from their sons in the toilet. 

"We thought the two boys were fighting, who knew such an accident would've happened." 

Her sister contacted the Housing Development Board (HDB) and her town council after the incident. 

Despite the scare, her son escaped from the incident mostly unharmed, save for a couple of abrasions. He was released from hospital after getting a x-ray scan and doctors found that no stitches were needed.

Hours after going home, the boy already asked whether his dressings could be removed, Syasha shared.

Falling chunks of concrete occur as a result of spalling concrete — when carbonation causes the steel bars embedded in the ceiling to corrode, resulting in a cracked and bulging concrete covers. This issue is more common for older buildings.

According to HDB's home care guide, homeowners are responsible for the repair of any spalling concrete within their flat. 

The incident took place in a Henderson Road block, which AsiaOne understands to be over 40 years old. She told the Chinese evening daily that her family had taken notice of cracks in the ceiling earlier. 

It was only after the contractors came to clear the debris did she realise how loose the concrete was and that the ceiling needed repairs long ago. 

A contractor has since come down to remove loose concrete from several other parts of the flat. 

AsiaOne has reached out to HDB for comments. 

Just last November, a tenant in Cassia Crescent was nearly struck by a slab of concrete weighing 3.4kg after the ceiling above his bed had cracked.

In another separate incident in 2017, parts of a kitchen ceiling fell in the middle of the night, narrowly missing an elderly woman who was making her way to the toilet.

Lead image via Facebook/Syasha DanialAlissa

This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.

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