5-year-old girl narrowly escapes getting hit by falling tree at Sembawang Park

A five-year-old girl narrowly escaped getting hit by a falling tree at Sembawang Park on Sunday afternoon (Dec 5).

Her 41-year-old father told Shin Min Daily News that his family had visited the park to have a picnic and that he and his daughter were playing with a ball near the tree.

When his daughter went to retrieve the ball from near the tree, they heard a snapping sound.

The tree suddenly fell about two seconds later, he recounted.

Fortunately, his daughter was unharmed.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the tree's trunk was rotten.

Some workers who were cutting grass in the area cleared the branches from the fallen tree and barricaded the area.

The man added that the incident rattled his eight-year-old son as well.

The family do not intend to return to the park anytime soon.

National Parks Board (NParks) confirmed with Shin Min that it was alerted to a fallen tree about six to nine metres in height at Sembawang Park.

The tree was removed from the area at about 6pm.

Urban trees in Singapore are examined by arborists, or 'tree doctors', in a rigorous and systematic manner, NParks said.