Hearing the screams of children and noticing thick smoke billowing out of a third floor shophouse window on April 8, a group of migrant workers wasted no time in grabbing a 4m-tall scaffold from their workplace just opposite the blaze.
After crossing the busy River Valley Road, they used the scaffold and a ladder to reach the children on the ledge of the shophouse which houses Tomato Cooking School, which runs camps and cooking classes at the shophouse.
They were joined by other migrant workers who were doing roadworks nearby.
Among those rescued was Mark Shankar Pawanovich, the son of Andhra Pradesh politician Pawan Kalyan.
Staff from inside the shophouse placed the children one by one on the ledge just outside the window and the workers carried the children and passed them down a human chain to safety.
There was no time for the workers to clip on safety harnesses. They had prioritised the rescue over their own safety.
In the 10 minutes before the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived, they saved the lives of 10 children.
Mr Subramanian Saranraj, 34, was one of the workers. The sight of children with soot marks on their face, coughing and struggling to breathe while wailing for help is one that he will never forget.
The lorry driver had just dropped some workers off at Valley Lodge Condominium for renovation work and was driving off. Just when he was about to make a right turn at about 9.40am, he saw the crowd around the burning shophouse.
Said Mr Saranraj, who hails from Tamil Nadu: “I got off the lorry immediately and through the smoke, saw a male teacher and children looking out of the window, frantically crying out for help. The fumes were getting bigger, and we didn’t have much time.”
“We too have children. Had it been our kids, would we have stood by and done nothing?”
Those words were echoed by his colleague Mr Nagarajan Anbarasan, 37, who was also among the first responders. “When we saw the children in distress, we couldn’t bear it.”
They decided against running up the stairs to get to the children as the smoke was too thick.
Mr Saranraj said: “We didn’t have any protective equipment to guard against the fumes. We were not familiar with the building as well and didn’t know where the stairs were. So we went for the windows.”
Mr Saranraj recalled the panic all around. “Some children even wanted to jump down but we reassured them and rescued them one by one.”
The only fatality was a 10-year-old Australian girl who died in hospital.
Of the 22 casualties, 16 were children aged between six and 10. The other six were adults aged between 23 and 55.
In a Facebook post, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said its Assurance, Care and Engagement (Ace) Group, which safeguards the well-being of migrant workers here, would acknowledge the workers who helped in the fire.
Four workers – Mr Saranraj, Mr Anbarasan, Mr Sivasami Vijayaraj and Mr Inderjit Singh – received the Friends of Ace coins on April 9 from MOM.
“Their quick thinking and bravery made all the difference... Thank you for reminding us of the power of community in times of need,” MOM said
