15 March 1986. It has been 3 decades passed since the Collapse of Hotel New World. It went down in history as one of Singapore’s deadliest civil disaster.
As a young millennial, I’ve always love to patronize Little India. From food hunting for supper, to late-night shopping in Mustafa Centre.
And me being me, who’s fascinated with the history of the different places here in Singapore, I’ve decided to look up for significant events that has happened in this vicinity, and that’s how I discovered about The Collapse of Hotel New World which happened here at the junction of Serangoon Road and Owen Road, which now stands the current Fortuna Hotel.
I remember watching a documentary that was shown on TV back in the days, but I didn’t know until recently that the Hotel New World incident happened in Little India/Farrer Park district.
Lian Yak Building, better known as Hotel New World, was a 6-storey building which was occupied by a nightclub, a branch of the Industrial & Commercial Bank, and the 67-room Hotel New World.
The Collapse
Before the collapse, the building was already making headlines, when a toxic carbon monoxide leak in 1975 left 35 hotel guests unconscious.
The collapse happened on the 15th of March 1986, at about 11.25am. This first major civil disaster sparked a rescue and recovery joint-operation, which involve personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force, Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Armed Forces.
4 days into the search and rescue operation, they were able to pull out 17 survivors, and 33 bodies who had perished were also retrieved.
The Cause
It was concluded that the cause of the collapse was due to structural faults. I found out that the building’s architectural plans and structural drawings were drawn up by unqualified draughtsmen.
What if a similar incident like The Collapse of Hotel New World happened in today’s context?
If it actually happened in today's context, we’d be imagining it was a sort of terrorist act. Being one of the fastest growing nation with high-rise commercial buildings surrounding us, I don’t think structural failure will even cross our minds.
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