Imagine this, it’s Friday and you’re in the TGIF mood, ready to get home after a long week of work.
And all of a sudden, white gas started coming out from the air-con vents.
Now, that may sound like a setting for an apocalypse movie but it happened in real life; just yesterday, in fact.
White Smoke Seen in an MRT Train at Kembangan MRT Station Was Freon Gas
On 20 May 2022, at around 5 pm, an entire SMRT train had to be evacuated.
Videos on TikTok showed white smoke coming out of the vent and SMRT staff evacuating the entire train at Kembangan MRT station.
According to SMRT, the incident was caused by an air-conditioning compressor leaking Freon gas.
SMRT added that the train was subsequently withdrawn from service for further checks.
What is Freon Gas?
Freon gas is stable, nonflammable and low-toxicity often used as refrigerants and aerosol propellants.
Tasteless and mostly odourless, it can cut off vital oxygen to your cells and lungs if you inhale deeply.
However, limited exposure, such as a spill on your skin or breathing near an open container, is only mildly harmful.
According to SMRT, staff on the scene did not receive any reports of commuters who required medical attention.
Nonetheless, SMRT apologises for the incident:
It’s Not The First Time This Happened
Back in June 2018, a similar incident happened at Tanjong Pagar MRT station at around 9.45 am.
According to a commuter who was on the scene, the platform was “quite smoky”, and the smoke seemed to stem from the rear of the train he was on.
And three months before that, a train was withdrawn from service after a similar gas leak at Jurong East station. And in May 2017, smoke enveloped the Raffles Place station platform.
Back then, after the 2016 freon gas leakage incident, SMRT had attributed the cause to overheating.
Feature Image: TikTok (Askfar)