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EIGHTEEN people complained of breathing difficulty and were sent to Singapore General Hospital after they smelt some gas coming from the air-conditioners in the atrium of the Golden Landmark Shopping Centre at North Bridge Road on Monday.
Many alarmed shop tenants on the ground floor, who also detected what one described as 'a pungent gas smell', rushed out of their units at about 4 pm, fearing that it might be a poison gas attack.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which was alerted to the incident by police, rushed a task force donning protective gas masks and oxygen tanks to the scene, along with a Red Rhino and four ambulances.
They found a man frothing from the mouth. He was among 12 who had breathing difficulty.
The SCDF officers combed the atrium but did not detect any gas leak or unknown residual gas.
After ensuring that the situation was under control, they declared the environment 'safe'.
Shop tenant Nizam Deem, 50, of Haja Textiles on the ground floor of the shopping centre, said he saw the man frothing at the mouth near the staircase at the entrance.
'I also smelt the gas and rushed out of my shop unit,' he told The Straits Times. 'This has not happened before and we really did not know what to do. We suspect it's a gas leak.'
Mr Nizam added that moments earlier, he heard from other shop tenants that there had been a fight as there was 'a lot of shouting'.
The incident drew a big crowd of curious passers-by outside the shopping centre.
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