Woman's hand caught in meat grinder at pie factory

The exterior of The Gourmet Pie Company, where a woman's hand was caught in a meat grinder on March 20, 2014. - ST PHOTO: KASH CHEONG
The exterior of The Gourmet Pie Company, where a woman's hand was caught in a meat grinder on March 20, 2014. - ST PHOTO: KASH CHEONG

Rescuers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were called in on Thursday morning to a pie factory on Admiralty Street after a woman's hand was caught in a meat grinder.

The incident happened at around 10am this morning on the factory floor of The Gourmet Pie Company and the SCDF, which received a call for assistance at 10.11am, sent its elite Disaster and Rescue Team (Dart). The Dart officers, who arrived at the scene within five minutes of the call, quickly dismantled the meat grinder and rushed the woman to nearby Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) with part of the device still attached to her right hand.

The woman, believed to be in her thirties, was still conscious when she was conveyed to the hospital, said an SCDF spokesman. There, officers and doctors worked together to release her hand using rescue tools.

The Straits Times understands that the victim's right hand was still intact after it was extricated from the meat grinder.

Employees from neighbouring units in the factory said they did not hear any commotion earlier in the morning.

"We didn't see much because their shutters were down," said Mr Seah How Teo, 55, a worker from the neighbouring factory Bake Inc. "But no screaming was heard."

Another neighbour, Mr P.C. Teo, 18, said he saw the victim being brought out by paramedics on a stretcher "but she was calm". "It's quite scary, I guess I'll be extra careful when using a meat grinder next time," he added.

Last year, a 28-year-old food factory worker needed to have part of his left arm amputated after it got trapped in a meat grinder. Mr Sun Xiao Bo was grinding fish to make fishballs at his company, Leong Hin Foods, at Woodlands Loop when the incident happened.

The Chinese national was rushed to KTPH with part of the machine still attached to his wrist and later transferred to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where Dart officers had to dismantle the grinder into smaller parts using wrenches and spanners. His arm was later removed from the grinder after 20 minutes.

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