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[UPDATED on Friday, Apr. 1 at 1:50pm: Adding in comments from a spokesperson from AMK Hub about the incident. The spokesperson said that it was an "isolated incident" and investigations are ongoing.]

A couple in Singapore was left shocked and shaken when a false ceiling at AMK Hub collapsed in front of them on the afternoon of Mar. 29.

Mothership reader Eugene recollected the realisation that if his wife Samantha had been walking a bit faster, she could have been seriously injured or even killed by the fallen debris.

Ceiling came crashing down

Eugene told Mothership that around 1:50pm, he and Samantha had been walking past the Cathay Cineplex ticketing kiosk on the fourth floor of AMK Hub.

Eugene was on his phone and Samantha was walking a bit ahead of him when he heard a loud crash in front of him.

"I looked up and I saw my wife shocked, standing approximately 3m to 5m away from a pile of rubble that had fallen from the false ceiling."

Gypsum boards, metal, nails, and glass "came crashing down", Eugene described.

Luckily, Samantha had slowed her pace right before the incident, as she turned around to check on Eugene. She then heard a cracking sound coming from above and stopped walking.

"Had my wife not turn[ed] around to look at me, or if I was not on my phone and was walking at the same speed as her, we would have definitely been right under the falling rubble, and would have been seriously injured."

SDA submitted report

There was a Safe Distancing Ambassador (SDA) nearby who approached Eugene and Samantha to check if they were okay. The SDA then proceeded to take some photos of the incident and submit a report.

Soon after, another man arrived at the scene to examine the rubble and to ensure that no one else walked under the ceiling.

Finally, as Eugene and Samantha were walking away from the scene, an AMK Hub staff member barricaded the area.

Very shaken by incident

In the first moments after the ceiling collapsed, Eugene said he and Samantha were both "stunned and took [a while] to react".

The incident "definitely" emotionally affected them both, he explained:

"These are incidents that you see on the news (I still remember Mothership's coverage on the false ceiling incident at Chinatown Point) but will never expect this to happen to ourselves.

When we got back to the car, the reality [sank] in that my wife could have lost her life or would have been seriously injured had she walked any faster."

Eugene added that the impact then the rubble hit the ground was "extremely loud and scary", due to the ceiling being much higher than the typical ceiling height because the movie theatre was located on that floor.

He said he has made a report through the OneService app to try to get the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to look into the matter, as he said that he is "quite sure" that there was a breach of safety protocol in this situation:

"The mall should have paid more attention to the ongoing works, especially in situations like these, more risk assessments should have been done to avoid the potential of injury to shoppers."

Mall manager apologised, said they're investigating incident

Eugene also added that he reached out to the mall management and the manager has apologised and assured him and Samantha that they will look into the incident and follow-up again after they have investigated.

Responding to Mothership's queries, a spokesperson for AMK Hub confirmed that a section of the plastered ceiling board at level four of AMK Hub fell at around 1:47pm on Mar. 29.

"Our operations team responded immediately to carry out checks, as well as barricaded the area. Inspection has been conducted to verify that safety at the site was not compromised, and further investigations are ongoing."

The spokesperson added that the management has been in contact with the couple "to convey our well wishes and will continue to extend support to them".

"This was an isolated incident. We regret any inconvenience caused and remain committed to providing a safe and enjoyable shopping experience for all shoppers."

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Top photos via Eugene.