Two injured after ventilation duct collapses in cinema hall in Nex
A ventilation duct fell from the ceiling of a cinema hall at Nex shopping mall yesterday during a movie, injuring two people.
A Shaw Theatres spokesman said the duct in Hall 6 was dislodged at 4.45pm.
Cinema staff tended to the injured customers until paramedics arrived, he said.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said two injured people were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Details of their injuries were not immediately available.
No other injuries were reported.
The cinema, located on the fourth level of Nex, will be closed until further notice, said the Shaw Theatres spokesman, who added that the company is working with landlord Gold Ridge and the authorities to investigate the incident.
The Straits Times understands that all the cinema halls were evacuated, and staff asked customers for their names and contact details to refund tickets.
A photo on website Mustsharenews showed that the dislodged ventilator landed across several rows of seats on the right side of the movie theatre.
In one photo, a customer was seen lying on the floor while another showed a person strapped to a stretcher.
A Building and Construction Authority (BCA) spokesman said it sent an engineer to investigate the fallen air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation duct at 6.30pm.
BCA has instructed the building owner to appoint a professional engineer to carry out a detailed investigation of the incident, inspect and assess the condition of other ducts in the cinema, and recommend rectification measures.
One moviegoer, who wanted to be known only as Ms Vivian, was watching the movie Tenet with her family in another cinema hall when the incident happened.
"The lights suddenly came on for a few minutes, but the movie was still playing so we thought it was nothing serious. But when the movie suddenly got shut off, some people got a bit angry and things were a little chaotic.
"Eventually, the staff told us to evacuate," said the 24-year-old bank analyst.
Correction note: The Building and Construction Authority has clarified that its engineer was at the site at 6.30pm.
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