'Doctor said we were very lucky': Diner suffers head injury after dragon dance goes awry in Sin Ming restaurant

A diner received an injury to his head after a dragon dance performance went awry in a restaurant located at Sin Ming Drive.

In a 17-second video posted to the Sgfollowsall Instagram account on Wednesday (Jan 29), a dragon dance can be seen taking place on stage at Gim Seng Heng Seafood Restaurant, as diners looked on while having their meals.

However, just as the performers attempted a corkscrew-like manoeuvre with the dragon puppet's body, a part of the puppet caught the large whirling fan above their heads.

This launched the prop into the air, as poles that the performers were holding onto were ripped from their hands.

In an instant, the crowd cried out in shock as both the puppet and rod were seen hurtling towards them.

"It's bleeding," a voice could be heard saying as the video ends abruptly.

According to the Instagram post, the performance occurred on Tuesday (Jan 28).

"They had a dragon dance performance on a very small stage with the ceiling fan still on," said a purported diner who shared the incident with Sgfollowsall.

"Many people were injured as a result," the diner added. "Unfortunately, my father was one of them and his head got hit by the sharp end of the pole of the [puppet] and he got a very deep injury on his forehead.

"It missed his eye by just a few centimetres and the doctor said that we were very lucky."

The diner was also upset by the lack of initiative from the performance troupe, claiming that they stood "at the side watching like they didn't do anything wrong".

Describing their actions as "unprofessional", the diner also said that they had made a police report and that the restaurant has expressed their apologies.

'We didn't expect something like this to happen': Restaurant owner

Speaking with a Shin Min Daily News reporter who visited the restaurant on Wednesday, the owner, surnamed Chen, said that the incident occurred at 7pm on Tuesday.

"We built a stage this year and invited a dragon and lion dance troupe to perform, also hiring an emcee to host the show," Chen explained.

"When the dragon dance was being performed, it was already the second-to-last course, and the event was almost over. We didn't expect something like this to happen."

A male diner in his 40s suffered minor injuries and was treated for his wound afterwards, said Chen.

Chen added that they'd told the diner that his medical bill will be taken care of by the restaurant as well as the dance troupe, Singapore Wee Ghee Athletic Association.

Chen also told Shin Min that he doesn't intend to hold any more dragon dances at the restaurant following this incident.

Responding to queries from Shin Min, the Singapore Wee Ghee Athletic Association said that the incident occurred due to "size issues". However, they declined to comment further.

AsiaOne has reached out to the association for more information.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com