Youth hurt in MBS stunt

Youth hurt in MBS stunt

SINGAPORE - It is a massive water feature intended to be both a skylight and rain collector.

But despite its size and steepness and the inherent risk of drowning, a youth decided the slippery, bowl-like feature was appropriate for a stunt.

The youth - said to be a foreigner - decided to climb into the Rain Oculus feature at Marina Bay Sands.

But he soon got into difficulty and hurt his head, bleeding profusely.

The incident occurred on Monday between 1am and 1.30am and was reported on citizen journalism site Stomp.

Stomp user Ben told the site: "One of the youth's friends jumped down too. He was going to help his friend climb up, but they failed to do so as the fountain was slippery."

Too dangerous

Another friend then tried to help the two, the Stomp user said. "One of their friends tried to climb down to help, but it was too dangerous and he decided to use a jacket to help them up."

Designed by US environmental artist and sculptor Ned Kahn and completed in 2011, the Rain Oculus is 22m wide and 5.2m deep.

Occasionally, water collected from rainfall or from nozzles around the feature will fill the Rain Oculus before flowing into the canal two-storeys below in a swirling, whirlpool-like fashion.

The bowl-like water feature is designed to store a maximum of 200 tons of water and at peak rates, water flows through the Rain Oculus at more than 30,000 litres per minute.

Fortunately, at the time of the incident, the Rain Oculus wasn't turned on and the youths managed to get out of it.

In a statement on Monday, a Marina Bay Sands spokesman said the resort was aware that two unidentified male visitors had breached safety rules, resulting in an unauthorised access to the Rain Oculus.

A security team, which conducts regular patrol of the vicinity, was notified about the incident and rushed to the site to render assistance.

But the visitors had left by then, said the spokesman.

Marina Bay Sands did not give a response when asked how the youths were able to climb into the feature undetected.

The New Paper spoke to several boutiques, eateries, shops and the information counters around the Rain Oculus on Monday, but they said they were unaware of the incident.


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