Fire in Hougang: man identified among 3 dead; the other victims were probably his wife and daughter

SINGAPORE – The a married couple and their teenage daughter lived AND five-room apartment on the third floor of block 971 Hougang Street 91.

On January 9, around 12:40, a fire broke out in the unit. killing three people.

The residents were Lee Choon Geak, 62, his wife Seow Siew Choo, 56, and their teenage daughter.

The Straits Times understands that only Lee’s body has been identified so far because the bodies of the other victims suffered significant burns.

Mr Lee married Ms Seow in 1992 and the family moved into the apartment in 2019, records show.

Neighbors said the apartment was cluttered and the family had several pets, including a cat, a bird and rabbits, which caused a stench in the hallway.

They said the family often brought items home and left them outside the ward.

A neighbor on the same floor who wanted to be called only Mrs Priya, 42, a housewife, said the family often brought boxes of rubbish and flower pots into the house, cluttering up the apartment’s interior and hallway.

She said: “It was very dirty and smelly. I could smell it even when the door was closed.

She added that the mess at one point took up half of the third-floor hallway, blocking the path to the garbage chute.

Another neighbor on the same floor, who did not want to be identified, stated that the couple often brought home cardboard boxes and flower pots and kept various animals.

The woman said that because of the fire, she was not allowed to return to the unit at 8 p.m. on January 9. She spent the night with her daughter and then returned home on January 10 around 8:00.

Residents in the remaining levels said they were evacuated around 12:50 p.m. and were gradually allowed to return to their apartments between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

In its first Facebook post at around 2.15pm, the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) said no injuries had been reported from the fire.

Firefighters had to force their way into the unit, but encountered difficulties due to the number of items inside.

The fire was extinguished around 3:15 p.m.

It was only around 4:30 p.m. that SCDF released an update stating that two victims had been found in a bedroom in the ward and were pronounced dead at the scene.

At around 7:45 p.m., it was reported that firefighters rescued a cat, a bird and eight rabbits.

However, around 9:30 p.m., he posted another update saying he had found a third body in the bedroom.

SCDF firefighters were still on scene at 2:00 p.m. on January 10.

Officers of the Construction Office entered several units to carry out inspections.

Were 1,954 fire incidents in Singapore in 2023, representing an increase of 8.6% from 1,799 cases in 2022.

The Hougang fire is the second time in over two years that three people have died.

ON May 13, 2022, three people, including a three-year-old child, died in a fire that broke out in the living room of a Bedok North apartment.

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