Newborn baby and mother narrowly miss injury as glass stove abruptly shatters

A family living at 160D Punggol Central were left in shock after the glass surface of their gas stove abruptly shattered and shot into their living room, narrowly missing a newborn baby and its parents, at around 11am on Tuesday (5 Jan).

The baby had just been brought home after being born on New Years’ Day when its grandmother decided to brew some red date tea for her daughter-in-law. Red date tea is typically served to women who have just given birth for nourishment and is a part of Chinese confinement practices.

The new grandmother, 57-year-old Mrs Lee, said that the tea was brewing on the gas stove while her daughter-in-law was having her confinement meal at the nearby dining table. After she finished eating, the pair left the dining area and went into the living room to rest.

Mrs Lee told the Chinese daily: “Suddenly there was a loud noise from the kitchen, and I thought it was the cabinet that fell.”

She rushed to see what had happened and saw glass fragments scattered on the floor of the living room. She then noticed that the entire glass surface of the kitchen gas stove cracked. The corner of the glass surface was especially shattered and had shot out into the living room.

Expressing relief that her son and daughter-in-law narrowly missed suffering injuries, Mrs Lee told the publication: “Fortunately, my son and his wife had left the dining table near the gas stove at that time, otherwise they would be shot by the broken glass. The broken glass even splashed the food and cabinets aside.”

Mrs Lee threw out all the food, including the red date tea, and spent three hours cleaning the kitchen and all the dishware and other items in the cabinets one by one to remove any remaining glass fragments.

During the cleaning process, she accidentally scratched her leg with the a glass shards and later visited a clinic to have her leg looked at.

Revealing that the incident had left her family shaken and that they are still in shock over what could have happened to her daughter-in-law and the new baby, Mrs Lee said that she was feeling elated at welcoming her grandchild but the incident has caused her to feel fearful in her own home.