Girl, 2, struck by 10cm metal hook at Sengkang playground, suffers deep gash on head

During an outing to a Sengkang playground with her siblings on Christmas Eve, a two-year-old girl was suddenly hit on the head by a falling metal hook, and ended up in hospital with a deep gash.

Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) confirmed with Mothership that they received a call for assistance on Dec. 24 at about 11:05am, at the ground floor between Block 172D and Block 173A of Sengkang East Drive.

A two-year-old female toddler was conveyed conscious to the hospital, police said.

Hit by metal hook

The girl's mother, Huang Yixin (transliteration), told Shin Min Daily News that she brought her three children — aged two, four and six — to the playground in at the relatively new development at around 10am.

They were the only ones there at the time.

At 11am, Huang carried her youngest daughter and got ready to leave.

All of a sudden, she heard the sound of metal falling, followed by her two-year-old daughter wailing loudly.

Huang turned to see a gash on the top of her daughter's head, with blood flowing uncontrollably.

There was also a metal hook on the ground not far from them, which was about 10cm long, Huang said.

Huang looked up to see where it might have come from but there was no one in sight, so she called an ambulance.

Upon seeing the blood on their sister's head, her two older sons also began to cry.

Sent to hospital with deep gash

Soon, medical personnel arrived at the scene to stem the bleeding.

SCDF said the girl was conveyed to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

Huang said her daughter was "very strong" despite what happened.

On the way there, the girl stopped crying and told Huang she was feeling better.

Subsequently, the doctor assessed that the wound was small though somewhat deep, and reassured Huang that it would not require stitches.

He advised Huang to keep her daughter under observation for the next 24 hours, in case she vomited or showed signs of dizziness.

The doctor also told Huang that her daughter would be fine based on her current condition.

Traumatised by what happened

Huang told Shin Min that she is still traumatised by the incident, and does not dare to return to the playground for the time being.

As there is a preschool near the playground, Huang said she is worried about the children's safety.

She has since filed a police report.

A picture shared by Huang showed police conducting investigations at the playground.

Huang told Shin Min that the iron hook responsible for the injury was similar to those used to secure the water pipes along skybridges in the estate.

Huang suspected that the one that hit her daughter had been thrown down from a height.

She added that residents had told her that a person in the estate had allegedly been pulling out hooks and discarding them at lift lobbies or other places recently.

Huang said she hoped that the authorities would be able to find out what happened by reviewing CCTV footage in the estate.

Shin Min observed that both blocks of flats near the playground had connected skybridges, with similar iron hooks used to secure water pipes running along grass patches on the skybridges.

Police told Mothership that investigations are ongoing.

Top image from Shin Min Daily News