PUBLISHED ONApril 29, 2025 3:50 AMByYeo Shu HuiMigrant workers Chinnappa Kannadasan and Govindaraj Elangeshwaran were among a group of workers at River Valley Road on April 8 when a fire broke out at enrichment centre Tomato Cooking School.
They sprang into action, rushing to rescue 15 children and six adults using a ladder and scaffold from their work site — by passing the children one by one to the workers — before firefighters from the Singapore Civil Defence Force arrived.
To honour the 15 workers for their bravery and efforts, an appreciation event was held on April 20 by non-profit organisation Its Raining Raincoats at their charity store on Henderson Road, which was attended by many parents whose kids were saved from the fire.
English publication Tabla! reported on April 24 that among the parents was Liu Ling, who cried in gratitude when she met the workers who rescued her six-year-old daughter from the fire.
The 47-year-old, whose daughter is among the youngest children to survive the blaze, said the workers told her that her daughter was unconscious when they rescued her from the third storey of the shophouse.
"My daughter is lucky to have had so many heroes here from India and Bangladesh who saved her life," she added.
Victor Ordenes, 45, whose six-year-old daughter was also rescued from the fire, told the men that they have "changed [their] lives".
Kannadasan, 32, recounted: "Teachers and children were crying out for help. We had no second thoughts. We had to try and rescue them."
The workers were presented with clothes, cash envelopes, goodie bags and home-baked brownies.
Elangeshwaran, 28, also expressed sadness over the passing of Australian national Freya Ji Tinan, 10, who died in the fire.
"We were very happy to meet the children we rescued. But, at the same time, we are sad that we could not rescue that one girl who passed away."
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