SINGAPORE, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Nineteen people, including 15 children, were sent to the hospital after a fire in a shophouse in south Singapore on Tuesday, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said.
About 80 people from the affected shophouse on River Valley Road and nearby premises were evacuated by the police and the SCDF, it said in a Facebook post.
Upon the SCDF's arrival, the fire was raging on the second and third floors of the three-story shophouse, and several people were on a ledge outside the third-floor unit. Members of the public used a metal scaffolding and a ladder to reach those stranded and brought a number of them to safety.
The fire was extinguished within 30 minutes. The cause of the fire is under investigation. ■
