11-year-old boy escapes freak accident unhurt

The glass door which shut onto an 11-year-old boy at a mall in Singapore. Agnes Goh/Straits Times/Asia News Network

SINGAPORE–An 11-year-old boy escaped unhurt after an automated glass door broke and shattered onto him at the Suntec City mall on Friday night (May 22).

The mother of the boy, Ms. Agnes Goh, alerted The Straits Times (ST) to the incident.

In a telephone interview on Saturday morning, she said her family had been walking to the car park, close to Popeye’s fast food outlet, when her son realized he was walking ahead of her.

He then “stopped at the door and turned around” to wait for her, as she recounted to ST.

She saw what unfolded next: “The glass door closed on him and exploded.”

Her son “jumped off” and managed to escape without injuries.

Passers-by then alerted a cleaner and security guard to the incident.

Ms Goh, in her 30s, said she told the guard that “the glass doors should have sensors”.

She said the security guard told her that most of the automated glass doors in the mall do not react like lift doors.

She added: “He should have waited for me before or after the glass door, not at the door itself.”

She said her son was “in total shock and went to bed in tears”, and that he does not want to talk about the incident as he “is still affected”.

A spokesman for the mall told ST they will call the family to check on the boy.

Suntec City is currently investigating the incident.