So thoughtful, but sold out

STOCKED UP: Singer Issac Dang bought 200 face masks in Taiwan for family, friends and fans here and in Johor Baru.

SINGAPORE - Masks are not only selling out here.

When Malaysian singer Issac Dang, heard about the haze situation, he scoured the streets of Taipei, capital of Taiwan, on Thursday night to buy face masks for his family, friends and fans in Singapore and Malaysia.

The 28-year-old arrived here yesterday afternoon with 200 face masks he had bought on his trip. Only 40 of them are N95 masks. The rest are surgical masks.

He managed to buy only two boxes of N95 masks from a pharmacy as they were sold out in seven other pharmacies he visited.

"The salesgirl said the N95 masks were sold out because Singapore tourists were buying them to take home," said Dang, who is in town for his debut performance at the Asia Style Collection 2013, a fashion showcum-concert, tonight.

In Bali, Indonesia, Mr Hawk Tan, 40, a sales director, also stocked up on masks. $600 for masks

Over two days, he bought all the N95 masks he could find at two hardware stores - 24 boxes of 10 masks at $25 each, spending $600 in total.

The father of two, who is on a family holiday, said: "Friends and family in Singapore are asking for them, but I don't think that what I have now is enough to go around.

"I asked the salesman to check with other outlets, but all of them were sold out."

Singaporeans are also buying masks in Bangkok, Thailand. Mr Joseph Gan, chief technology officer of a security firm who is in Bangkok for work, said yesterday that he was told at one pharmacy that Singaporeans had bought all its stock.

Mr Adiff Jaffar, 35, an assistant supervisor who is in Bangkok for a family holiday, also had no luck.

Last evening, he checked two pharmacies and a minimart and they had run out.

"They are now expecting Singaporeans to show up to buy the masks, so when I asked a shop owner for them, he just laughed."