Pasir Ris residents got a shock when a panel of decorative cladding at the top floor of an apartment block in Pasir Ris Street 21 suddenly came off and smashed onto the floor outside its void deck.

A resident who stays in a neighbouring block uploaded photos of it to her Facebook page:

The Chinese characters can be translated to the following:

"I took these photos to once again remind children — don't ever walk below the windows when you're on the ground floor of HDB blocks!"

MP: No injuries, area cordoned off

Thankfully, it's been confirmed that no injuries were reported in the incident. Pasir Ris-Punggol Member of Parliament Zainal bin Sapari took to his Facebook page later on Monday afternoon to share his update on what happened:

According to his post, Zainal said the police, Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council and HDB reps were present at the time he visited the site to investigate its cause.

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At the moment, he said, it's still not yet been determined why or how the cladding collapsed all of a sudden.

In comments on her original post, though, Ye said she believed the block of flats to be more than 20 years old:

Town council carrying out necessary repairs, building is structurally sound

In a statement shared with Mothership on Monday evening, the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council and HDB said the following:

"Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council and HDB were informed at about 12 noon on 18 June 2018 that a piece of decorative cladding had dislodged from the façade of Block 270 Pasir Ris Street 21. The panel is part of the façade design and is non-structural. The building is structurally safe.

Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council will be carrying out the necessary repairs. The Town Council will also take additional precautionary safety measures by checking the neighbouring blocks with similar façade features. The Town Council has cleared the debris and cordoned off the ground floor area beneath the affected facade."

Can't deny it's still scary, though.

Top photo via Zainal bin Sapari's Facebook page