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http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Crime/Story/A1Story20110322-269353.html
7 rescued in flat hostage drama
my paper
Tue, Mar 22, 2011
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By Sujin Thomas
ARMED with a parang, a 45-year-old man held his family and three tenants hostage inside his fourth-floor Clementi flat, sparking a five-hour stand-off with police yesterday morning.
While it is unclear what triggered the incident, it is believed that the unemployed man had shouted and waved a parang in front of his frightened 40-year-old wife and three children, aged three, 11 and 14.
He also locked the front gate of the flat at Block 706, Clementi West Street 2, in a bid to prevent anyone from escaping.
However, he did not trap only his family members.
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Hiding inside two locked bedrooms were his three tenants: two Bangladeshis, who shared a room, and an Iranian, who rented the other room.
All three, who are in their 20s, are believed to be undergraduates at the National University of Singapore.
The police said they received a call requesting assistance at about 7.30am.
It is believed that a friend of the man's wife, who got wind of the incident, made the call.
When the authorities arrived, they saw the man holding the parang. He was shouting in the living room, filled with rage.
Police officers tried to calm him down and to get him to open the gate, but he refused.
While negotiations were ongoing, the man's family members quickly locked themselves in the master bedroom for safety, as instructed by the police officers.
By then, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers who arrived just after 8am had set up an inflatable safety cushion, or "lifepak", and rescue nets as precautionary measures.
While negotiations continued between the man and the police at the front of the flat, SCDF officers attempted to rescue the occupants of the flat through the bedroom windows.
Long ladders were pitched against the side of the block and SCDF officers helped the hostages to escape from three separate bedrooms.
One rescuer also rappelled down to the flat to secure the woman's youngest child in a safety harness before descending with him.
In the living room, the man still refused to give in to the police's demands to open the locked front gate.
Officers finally broke into the flat at about noon and the man was arrested for criminal intimidation and drug-related offences, said the police.
The suspect is believed to in financial difficulties.
No one was injured in the incident.
7 rescued in flat hostage drama
my paper
Tue, Mar 22, 2011
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By Sujin Thomas
ARMED with a parang, a 45-year-old man held his family and three tenants hostage inside his fourth-floor Clementi flat, sparking a five-hour stand-off with police yesterday morning.
While it is unclear what triggered the incident, it is believed that the unemployed man had shouted and waved a parang in front of his frightened 40-year-old wife and three children, aged three, 11 and 14.
He also locked the front gate of the flat at Block 706, Clementi West Street 2, in a bid to prevent anyone from escaping.
However, he did not trap only his family members.
<table style="width: 508px; height: 205px;" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" width="508"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="font: bold 14px Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 102, 204);" colspan="5">7 rescued in flat hostage drama
Click on thumbnail to view (Photos: SCDF, TNP)</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="120">
</td> <td width="120"></td> <td width="120"></td> <td width="120"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="120"></td> <td width="120"></td> <td width="120"></td> <td width="120"></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Hiding inside two locked bedrooms were his three tenants: two Bangladeshis, who shared a room, and an Iranian, who rented the other room.
All three, who are in their 20s, are believed to be undergraduates at the National University of Singapore.
The police said they received a call requesting assistance at about 7.30am.
It is believed that a friend of the man's wife, who got wind of the incident, made the call.
When the authorities arrived, they saw the man holding the parang. He was shouting in the living room, filled with rage.
Police officers tried to calm him down and to get him to open the gate, but he refused.
While negotiations were ongoing, the man's family members quickly locked themselves in the master bedroom for safety, as instructed by the police officers.
By then, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers who arrived just after 8am had set up an inflatable safety cushion, or "lifepak", and rescue nets as precautionary measures.
While negotiations continued between the man and the police at the front of the flat, SCDF officers attempted to rescue the occupants of the flat through the bedroom windows.
Long ladders were pitched against the side of the block and SCDF officers helped the hostages to escape from three separate bedrooms.
One rescuer also rappelled down to the flat to secure the woman's youngest child in a safety harness before descending with him.
In the living room, the man still refused to give in to the police's demands to open the locked front gate.
Officers finally broke into the flat at about noon and the man was arrested for criminal intimidation and drug-related offences, said the police.
The suspect is believed to in financial difficulties.
No one was injured in the incident.
