After neighbours see unit catch fire, man rescues unconscious tenant, wife grabs fire extinguisher

Singapore—When a Bukit Batok flat caught fire on Thursday (June 10), a couple living in the building noticed the smoke and immediately sprang into action.

With his quick response, the husband, 32-year-old Muhammad Nasiruddin Md Khalid, may have saved the life of the flat’s tenant, a 37-year-old man. His wife, meanwhile, brought the fire extinguisher from their own unit, according to a report in The New Paper (TNP).

The fire occurred on the seventh floor at Block 283 Bukit Batok East Avenue 3, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) told TNP, adding they received an alert shortly before 9.30 am.

What caused the fire is still under investigation.

TNP reports that Mr Nasiruddin, a security officer trained in firefighting and first-aid, smelled the smoke from the fire while he was playing with his children. And when he looked out of his unit, he saw smoke from the unit of an upstairs neighbour.

He and his wife went into action at once, and when Mr Nasiruddin looked into the unit, he could see that there was someone lying on the floor.

While his wife rushed to get the fire extinguisher, he knocked on the neighbour’s door and window in an attempt to wake up the tenant.

Fortunately, the owner of the flat, 74-year old Madam Tan Kim Keok, returned from shopping and opened the door to the unit.

Mr Nasiruddin told TNP that he then rushed into the unit with his mouth and nose covered with a wet cloth and immediately dragged the man into the hallway.

He added that there had been thick smoke in the flat, and he, therefore, made a choice to move the unconscious man.

“Of course, my safety is important but under that situation, the right thing… was to save the man,” he told TNP.

Once they were in the hall, he tried to wake up the tenant.  Mr Nasiruddin told TNP that the man awoke, but was “in a blur state”.

After the SCDF arrived, the tenant and Mr Nasiruddin were taken to hospital. Both men were conscious.

An SCDF spokesman told TNP, “The fire involved the contents of a bedroom in a unit on the seventh storey. Members of the public extinguished the fire using buckets of water prior to SCDF’s arrival.”

The son of Madam Tan, Mr Raymond Seetoh, 44, expressed gratitude for the help Mr Nasiruddin and his wife extended during the incident.

TNP quotes him as saying, ”Not many would have acted as bravely as (Mr Nasiruddin) did. I think that man deserves a medal.”

/TISG

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