SINGAPORE- Two men were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a factory in Sungei Kadut on Sunday morning.

Residents in the Chua Chu Kang area reported seeing large plumes of black smoke rising from the industrial estate.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted to the fire at about 9.52 am. When its officers arrived six minutes later, they saw that the zinc roof of a single storey factory at No 14 Sungei Kadut Street 6 had collapsed after the fire burnt through it.

Wood and metal products in the factory accentuated the raging flames which overwhelmed an area slightly smaller than a football field, or 80m by 80m.

One firefighting machine, two fire engines, four red rhinos and five other vehicles were deployed to fight the fire, which required 50 officers and seven water jets to put out.

Both men, a Chinese and a Malay, were sent to Singapore General Hospital.

The Sungei Kadut industrial estate has been an area especially prone to fires, as about many businesses there are timber or furniture factories.

In 2008, a fire blazed through 20 shops along Sungei Kadut after a factory there caught fire. In 2011 and 2012, there were also incidents of workshops catching fire.