Singapore Hotel Falls; 300 Feared Trapped
About three hundred people were believed trapped today when a six-story hotel collapsed, toppling houses nearby, police said. A spokesman called the chances of anyone surviving the disaster “very slim.”
Firemen rescued eight people who were injured when the 13-year-old, 67-room New Serangoon Hotel collapsed. The injured were rushed to hospitals.
A nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital said most of those rescued were Indians. The hotel is frequented by Indian and Malaysian tourists.
No immediate reason was given for the collapse of the hotel on Serangoon Road.
It was not immediately known how many people were killed, but a police spokesman said it was believed about 300 people were trapped.
“Chances of survival of those trapped are very slim,” the spokesman said.
An emergency command post was set up in the area, and all roads leading to the disaster scene were closed to traffic. Scores of civil defense workers dug through the debris searching for bodies.
An eyewitness, Alice Wong, 53, said, “The ground literally shook as the hotel collapsed.”
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