Off-duty SCDF officer and passers-by free child whose arm gets stuck in gachapon machine at Tampines 1

Shoppers at a Don Don Donki outlet in Tampines 1 were alerted to the sound of a child crying loudly on Friday (March 29) afternoon.

A merchant, who did not wish to be named, told Shin Min Daily News in a report on Saturday (March 30) that she ran in the direction of the cries and found people crowding around a gachapon machine located on the second floor of the mall.

She added that based on what she heard from other shoppers, the toddler had reached their hand into the retrieval slot of the machine, where it got stuck.

The merchant also told the Chinese daily that she saw police and four officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) near the gachapon machines placed outside the Japanese supermarket.

Cordons were put up by the mall's security team as police were seen speaking to the child's parents later. They left at about 2pm.

In response to queries by Shin Min, SCDF stated that they'd received a call for assistance on Friday at about 1.10pm. By the time they arrived, however, an off-duty SCDF officer and members of the public had managed to free the child, who suffered minor abrasions on their right hand.

They added that the parents declined to have the child be taken to the hospital for an examination.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com