Zombie apocalypse? New Year's Eve partygoers throng roads, trigger stampede fears in Marina Bay

Normally-busy streets barren of cars overtaken by hundreds of warm bodies just trying to make their way home.

Scene from The Walking Dead or a new zombie apocalypse movie?

No, it's just the aftermath of the New Year's Eve countdown at Marina Bay early this morning.  

A TikTok video by Carl78794 in the wee hours of New Year's Day purportedly showed the situation following the fireworks show downtown.

"Zombie apocalypse after 2022 NYE fireworks at Marina Bay," wrote the user, describing the sea of people on the tarmac stretching out as far as the eye could see.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@carl78794/video/7183375991396502810?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1[/embed]

It appeared that the Singapore Police Force (SPF) were on hand as well, to make sure that the crowd situation did not get out of control.

"Kudos to SPF for effective crowd control measures!" Carl78794 added.

The state of affairs seemed a little more sketchy over at Marina Bay Sands, where TikTok videos showed throngs of people in a squishy situation as they attempted to make their way out of the confines of the mall.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@vinnography/video/7183384859644022043?[/embed]

One video by user Vinnography showed at least 100 people trying to get on the escalator at the basement and first floor levels.

"POV: Only one escalator to exit MBS," wrote the user. 

However, another netizen said that he doesn't get why everyone keep drawing comparisons to the South Korean tragedy at Itaewon on Halloween.

"There are a lot of exits in MBS, these people just chose the nearest escalator and exit door," he added. 

Even when revellers reached the glass door exit leading out to the waterfront promenade, it appeared to be a stalemate situation with everyone staying rooted to their positions.

To some, however, the crowd was not unexpected.

Another video of the crowd in the mall taken by TikTok user Anna showed people breaking out in applause after one man creates his own rules by walking up the escalator going the wrong way in order to escape the sticky situation.

[embed][embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@annainasia/video/7183326071234792705?[/embed][/embed]

From the videos at MBS, at least one commenter expressed surprise that revellers managed to avoid a stampede.

"After the Korea stampede I'm more scared of that than Covid," one commenter noted.

One user, however, brought a slightly different perspective, commenting that even though there was a crowd, "it [was] well organised".

Over at the Merlion Park, police had to close off the area temporarily due to overcrowding.

In a tweet posted at 8.10pm on Saturday, it advised members of the public to avoid Merlion Park after it "reached full capacity".

[embed]https://twitter.com/SingaporePolice/status/1609160280315158529[/embed]

Although it was reopened about an hour later, police shared in a tweet at 10.25pm that the Fullerton Waterfront, including Merlion Park, as well as the Jubilee Bridge and Marina Bay Sands Event Plaza was closed "due to large crowds".

ALSO READ: Thousands of revellers usher in the New Year with a bang at Marina Bay

candicecai@asiaone.com

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