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SINGAPORE – The five youths who quickly helped evacuate bystanders and tended to two injured women after a ventilation shaft fell from the ceiling during a movie were honored for their actions on Sunday (October 25).
Old friends Sebastian Koo, Quek Yew Hern, Edwin Ho, Venkat Raghavan Gowrishankar and Julian Tay, all 19 years old, received the Community Lifesaver Award from the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) at the Ang Mo Kio Fire Station .
The men, all former classmates at St. Gabriel High School, had been watching the movie Tenet at Shaw Theaters in the Nex Mall when the ventilation shaft fell at around 4.45 p.m. on Aug. 30.
“My hands were shaking a lot because I was quite shocked by what was happening … but once Sebastian screamed, the rest of us came out of our daze,” said Tay, a polytechnic student who was interning as a journalist. The other four are full-time national military personnel.
Koo was the first to call all onlookers to evacuate and also found the two injured women outside the movie theater and conducted an injury assessment.
“I was worried there were injuries that she might have missed or that I might have missed it. I was checking periodically over and over again,” he said. Mr. Koo is trained in first aid, having been part of the Youth Red Cross in high school.
The five men said they were honored and grateful to receive the award yesterday from Colonel Lim Han Chee, commander of the SCDF 3rd Division. Mr. Mark Shaw, Director of the Shaw Organization, also attended the presentation.
Mr. Venkat, who had called an ambulance that day, said: “I am very grateful to receive this award because I feel we did what we could in the momentum to help. It is good to be recognized for that. I am also grateful that no one was seriously injured. “
Mr. Quek added: “Regardless of being recognized for what we have done, anyone could have stepped up. It is our duty to always help people and make sure everyone is okay.”
Shaw said: “Thanks to his quick thinking, the cinema patrons were safely evacuated. His brave and selfless acts are indeed commendable and truly worthy of the SCDF Community Lifesaver Award.”
“His actions demonstrated the importance of knowing what to do in an emergency and the difference it could make in saving lives.”
A parliamentary response written on October 5 said that water that had collected in an air conditioning and mechanical ventilation duct had likely overloaded the support brackets and caused them to fall. An investigation by the Building and Construction Authority is expected to be completed later this month.
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