Aljunied Crescent fire: Mother laments losing only son

A charred body of a man was recovered from a 9th floor Aljunied Crescent flat which caught fire on Monday (Dec 4) at 2.16pm. 

Stomp was alerted to the incident by Stomper Michael who stays on the same block; Block 99 Aljunied Crescent. 

The mother of the deceased is the boss of a hair salon and was out shopping when she received news that her son, Mr Du Chun Yan, 37, had been discovered dead following the fire at home, said a salon employee. 

When reporters visited the salon, the employee, Ms Wang Qing Xiang, 48, said that her boss had started working at about 11am, and went off to Orchard Road to shop at around 2pm.

She recalled:

“It was around 4pm when the boss suddenly called.

“She was crying as she said, “There was an explosion in my home and my son is gone!”

“It was then I realised that there had been a fire in her flat, and her son was killed.”

A resident, Ms Wu,55,  staying one floor below the affected unit, told Lianhe Wanbao that she had heard a loud bang, akin to an explosion, coming from the unit above at around 2pm on the day of the incident. 

She said:

“A neighbour from the 10th floor came down later and knocked on my door, saying that there was a fire on the 9th floor.”

In response to media queries, a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said that officers discovered a charred corpse of a male, after putting out the fire. 

It is understood that a cooking gas cylinder was found in the bedroom of the affected unit.

SCDF is currently investigating the cause of the fire.