Australian girl dies after fire in kids' cooking school in Singapore
A 10-year-old Australian girl is dead and more than 20 other people are injured after a raging fire tore through a cooking school.
Sixteen children and six adults were rushed to hospital, where a 10-year-old girl died, after a fire at the Tomato Cooking school in Singapore, according to local media.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed it is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who died in Singapore.
'We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time,' a spokeswoman said.
'Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.'
The blaze on the second and third floors of the three-storey building which houses the cooking school was raging when authorities were alerted on Wednesday morning.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force arrived to find several people hanging on a ledge on the third floor.
'Members of the public, including construction workers, used a metal scaffolding and a ladder to reach those stranded and brought a number of them to safety,' it said on Facebook.
The defence force rescued the remaining people stuck on the third-floor ledge as firefighters fought the flames, bringing them under control within 30 minutes.
About 80 people from the affected shophouse and nearby buildings were evacuated, the defence force said.
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Tomato Cooking school, which runs cooking lessons and camps for children, said it was deeply saddened and shocked by the fire that occurred at the shophouse.
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'We cannot express our sadness in words for the affected families and what they are going through,' it said in a statement on Facebook.
'At this moment, our priority remains the safety and well-being of everyone involved. We will continue to work closely with the authorities and will provide updates when appropriate.'
The Singapore Civil Defence Force, which is leading the investigation into the blaze, said preliminary findings indicated the fire likely started in a storage area on the second storey of the shophouse.
'Preliminary investigations also found fire safety non-compliances, including unauthorised works involving the erection of partitions within the premises,' it said.
The investigation is ongoing.
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