Flaring at JB chemical plant caused fiery glow in Singapore sky: NEA

The fiery orange glow seen in Singapore sky on Wednesday (Oct 15) was due to an unplanned shutdown by a chemical plant across the border, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has said.

In a Facebook post on Friday (Oct 17), the agency said that the power outage at one of Lotte Chemical Titan’s chemical plants in Pasir Gudang near Johor Bahru, led the company to activate recovery work.

Known as flaring, this common safety measure in petrochemical plants removes excess gas which then releases harmless water and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

In a separate statement, Lotte Chemical Titan said that the power outage began at 4.13pm. Recovery work began at 6pm and was completed at about 9.30pm.

@asiaone Saw a distant orange glow in the sky on Wednesday night (Oct 15)? Thought it was a fire 📷 and called Abang Bomba? Fellow Singaporeans, here’s what it was all about. Oh, and don’t worry, our friends across the Causeway in Malaysia are fine. #sgnews #Singapore #MalaysiaNews #Malaysia #Fire #Sky #glow ♬ Burning Up (FIRE) - BTS

Taking to the CloudSpotting and SkySpotting Facebook group on Oct 15, a Yishun resident said that she was startled by the bright flaming sky in front of her door.

Netizens also shared photos of where they could see the glow from their window — from Marina Bay Sands to up on a plane.

While the flares are harmless from afar, several residents were concerned about pollution.

NEA said that the air quality at the nearby monitoring stations, including in Punggol, is within “normal variations”.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely,” it added.

[[nid:724023]]

chingshijie@asiaone.com