It was a normal morning out for Winnie Toh, her husband and two children, aged five and eight, on October 17.

The family had ordered some drinks from a coffeeshop at Bukit Panjang they often frequented.

Winnie's husband had gone to buy some noodles for the family, and she had bought two cups of Milo for her kids.

The three of them were stirring their respective drinks with a teaspoon to cool it down.

About five to 10 minutes of this, the Toh's younger son (who was still gently stirring his drink) witnessed his cup absolutely shatter.

Winnie told Mothership there was an incredibly loud sound as the glass shattered.

Here is the aftermath:

Luckily though, the child somehow managed to escape with minimal injuries, just a very small cut on his hand. He was however completely drenched in Milo, which had thankfully cooled down by the time the glass had shattered.

Toh's husband quickly brought their son back home to clean up and change. The people eating nearby very kindly helped move the noodles to a clean table, while the food near the shattered glass was discarded.

The Tohs eventually got to enjoy their breakfast some 30 minutes later. The auntie from the noodles stall even offered a free bowl to the youngest Toh.

He was still understandably shaken from the entire incident, and his parents reassured him that it was a freak accident and ran him through some possible reasons for the glass shattering.

Tempered glass shattering

While it is unclear if it is actually this reason for this particular cup to explode, the issue of tempered glass shattering is not uncommon.

Here's a Straits Times article documenting the many instances of tempered glass shattering.

According to the February 2017 article, the Consumers Association of Singapore had received nine complaints since 2014.

Here is an expert explaining why this happens.

The shattering is seen in tempered glass, which is a type of glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass -- although instances of shattering are really rare.

This means that if the glass breaks, it will crumble into small granular chunks, instead of jagged shards that could more easily cause serious injuries.

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Image courtesy of Winnie Toh