More details and photos have emerged from the incident of a falling ventilation duct in a cinema hall at Nex mall that saw two women taken to hospital for their injuries.
Nineteen-year-old Sebastian Koo was watching the movie Tenet in cinema Hall 6 with his four male friends on Sunday when he heard a strange crumbling noise coming from the ceiling at around 4.30pm.
"It was in the middle of an intense fight scene, so I thought it was just an extremely realistic sound effect," said the full-time national serviceman.
But dust began to fall from the ceiling as it cracked open and, without warning, the ventilation duct came falling down about two rows behind him, bringing plaster debris from the ceiling along with it.
Thankfully, the ventilation duct, which was large enough to cover at least four seats, did not hit anyone, he noted.
Though he narrowly avoided the debris by swiftly ducking down and covering his neck, he was alarmed to see that a large chunk of plaster debris had struck a woman's head.
She was seated just one row behind him.
Mr Koo, who is trained in first aid, immediately tended to the woman.
"She was lying in a foetal position and clutching her head, but I don't think I saw any bleeding and she was conscious," he said, adding that she was soon able to sit up.
"I asked if she was okay and she was able to respond to my questions, though she complained that her head was very painful."
The woman was one of two victims taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) for their injuries.
The Straits Times understands she is likely to have suffered internal head injuries, while the other victim, also female, suffered minor bruises and has been discharged.
A spokesman for TTSH declined to respond to queries on the patients' conditions and the severity of their injuries, citing patient confidentiality.
Mr Koo said that although two of his friends suffered minor scrapes from the debris hitting their heads, they were all able to quickly "snap out of it" and react to the situation.
One of them called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), while the other two helped to evacuate people from the cinema hall and checked that no one was trapped underneath the debris.
"It was instinctive for me to quickly snap out of my state of shock and make sure that everyone was okay," Mr Koo said.
All the cinema halls were later evacuated, with staff noting down the names and contact details of patrons, for the purpose of giving them refunds for their tickets.
Shaw Theatres said in an updated statement yesterday that it is the company's "priority to provide support to the injured patrons and their families", adding that it is in contact with one family and has reached out to the other.
"We understand that there were a number of patrons who assisted our staff until the arrival of the SCDF and we would like to offer our appreciation to them for their kind assistance," it said. "We would like to apologise to all our patrons for any inconvenience and the interruption of their movie experience caused by this incident."
ST understands that the Nex building is co-owned by Gold Ridge and Mercatus. A Nex spokesman said its management is unable to share more information and that it is still working with the authorities and Shaw Theatres on the incident.
