5 people suffer knife wounds at Orchard Central on New Year's Day

SINGAPORE - Five people who were at Orchard Central on New Year's Day were rushed to hospital with knife wounds after an incident on the 11th floor of the mall at around 4am.

A spokesman for the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) told The Straits Times on Jan 2 that the SCDF received a call for assistance at 181 Orchard Road at about 4.10am on Jan 1, and took five people to Singapore General Hospital.

The address is that of Orchard Central.

A police spokesman said the five men were aged 18 to 30, and that another 30-year-old man was later arrested for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon. Investigations are ongoing.

The Straits Times visited the 11th floor of Orchard Central on Jan 2 at about 2.30pm and saw blood stains at various places along a 200m stretch.

The units on the 11th floor are occupied by a dance club, a steakhouse and a restaurant.

Outside the Ark 11 dance club, which was closed, there were several stains of what appeared to be blood droplets.

There was also a smear of blood on the wall of a nearby toilet.

Mr Arumuganathan Anbazhagan, 50, a gardener who has been working at Orchard Central for the last two months, said he noticed traces of blood on the 11th floor when he came to work on Jan 2.

"It was very strange, there were many blood stains near the garden, rear corridor and outside the toilet," he added.

He said he learnt that cleaners at the shopping mall had already cleaned most of the stains, adding he did not know what had happened on Jan 1 as it was his day off.

A woman in her 30s who works in Orchard Central said that there was a lot of blood outside a lift lobby on Jan 1.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she found out about this from her colleagues when she came to work at about 10.30am on Jan 1.

She said she did not see any police officers in the area at the time.

When contacted, a spokesman for Ark 11 declined to comment and said the incident happened outside the club's premises after it had closed.

The spokesman added: "All we have now are various incomplete, varying accounts from different parties. We would like to refrain from giving any comments that might compromise any police investigations that are ongoing."

A police spokesman said investigations into a case of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon are ongoing.

The incident comes just two weeks after a 61-year-old was arrested on Dec 20, 2023, after allegedly slashing another man and two women in a mobile phone shop at Pasir Ris West Plaza.

The assailant was known to the victims, and the police said preliminary investigations showed they had not been on friendly terms.

There were about 150 knife-related crimes annually from 2017 to 2021.

These crimes involved murder, robbery, rioting and serious hurt, with about 36 per cent of them occurring in residential areas and 3 per cent on educational premises.

The remaining cases occurred in other public and commercial places.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.