SINGAPORE – A 17-year-old boy died on Sunday after a fire broke out in a Housing Board flat in Yishun a day earlier.

A police spokesman on Sunday said that the teenager was unconscious when taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. He subsequently died from his injuries.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a Facebook post on Saturday that it found the boy unconscious in the smoke-logged unit on the 12th floor at Block 783 Yishun Ring Road.

He was carried out of the unit by firefighters and taken to the ground floor. SCDF’s paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and took him to the hospital.

SCDF said it was alerted to the fire at 8.55pm on Saturday. Upon arrival, fire was raging inside the unit and firefighters had to make a forced entry.

The fire involved contents of a bedroom and was extinguished by SCDF with a water jet. About 50 people from neighbouring units were also evacuated.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Six people died in fires in 2022, up from four in 2021, SCDF’s annual statistics report released in February showed.

Of 2022’s fatalities, three died following a fire in Bedok North in May, including a three-year-old girl and her father.

Although the number of deaths increased from 2021 to 2022, there was a drop in fire injuries in the same period, from 193 to 171.

In March 2023, a 98-year-old man died two days after a fire broke out in his Pasir Ris flat. His daughter told Shin Min Daily News that he suffered first-degree burns and was breathing with the help of a ventilator when warded in the intensive care unit.