Car reverses into childcare centre in Hougang; no one injured

A white sedan reversed into a My First Skool childcare centre at Block 676 Hougang Avenue 8 on Jan 22, 2017. PHOTOS: FACEBOOK/LING GUO

SINGAPORE - A white sedan reversed into a childcare centre at Block 676 Hougang Avenue 8 on Sunday (Jan 22) afternoon.

It left the glass window and part of the concrete wall of the My First Skool childcare centre shattered and smashed.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received an alert for assistance at 12.50pm, and dispatched an ambulance.

A Chinese man in his early 50s refused to be taken to hospital. He had no visible injuries on him. No other injuries were reported in the accident.

The police confirmed that no one was in the childcare centre when the accident happened, and that investigations are ongoing.

Facebook user Esther Korene Goh wrote: "Luckily it's Sunday today. Else many toddlers will be in danger."

A small crowd of onlookers could be seen standing around the scene, and a video by Facebook user Ling Guo showed some surveying the damage done to the centre's interior.

In a media statement, the childcare centre said it had contacted all parents of the affected bay which caters to children from the kindergarten levels, within two hours of the accident.

"Children will be housed temporarily at a nearby My First Skool located in Rivervale Crescent, which is a new centre that is soon to be opened. Transportation arrangements will be provided," the centre said in the statement.

It added that rectification works to the Hougang centre is expected to take three to four weeks to complete.

This is the second such incident in four days.

A taxi driver had accidentally reversed into a void deck on Thursday (Jan 19) morning, sending his vehicle up a parapet of a walkway between blocks 816 and 817 in Jurong West Street 81. No one was injured too.

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