Woman stranded outside 3rd-storey window ledge at Jalan Besar rescued by SCDF officers

Passersby along Jalan Besar were greeted by an alarming sight just before 10am on Saturday morning (April 8), when they looked up to see a woman stranded on the third-floor ledge of a four-storey building.

The incident occurred at 317 Jalan Besar.

Photos shared on Instagram account SGfollowsall showed a woman dressed in an orange top and white pants holding on to the windowsill of a unit, seemingly wanting to get in.

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Another video posted on Singapore Incidents' Facebook page showed the precarious situation that the woman was in.

According to an eyewitness' account posted to the SGTalk forum, the woman, who spoke with a foreign accent, had rejected offers of help from passersby to call the police.

"[I] was crossing the road and saw her on the ledge… ran over and shouted 'Are you ok, shall I call the police?' She kept saying no," wrote forum user Wendychan, who added that the stranded woman could be heard calling a man's name.

Despite the woman's refusal, Wendychan added that she eventually dialled '999'. Photos shared by the user showed several police officers on the road talking to the woman on the ledge.

Another forum user wrote that the woman was "too well dressed to be a burglar", while others posited that the woman might have somehow gotten locked out of the unit.

In her post, Wendychan shared that she "spent 20 minutes plus giving a statement to SPF".

"Call police [to do] a good deed can be quite sian," Wendychan added. Others, however, praised the user for doing the right thing.

Based on photos posted to the forum, the stranded woman, who also appeared to be barefoot, was later pulled to safety by officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

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In response to AsiaOne's query on the incident, a spokesperson for SCDF stated that they had received a call for assistance at 317 Jalan Besar on April 8 at about 10am.

"Upon SCDF's arrival, a person was seen standing on a ledge outside the window of a third-floor unit. SCDF conducted forced entry into the unit," the spokesperson said.

SCDF's statement added that the police and SCDF assisted the person into the unit and there were no reported injuries. AsiaOne understands that the incident is unrelated to any threats of self-harm.

candicecai@asiaone.com

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