“PERSISTENT AND IRRITATING”
Residents living in the west of Singapore took to social media to air their frustrations over the bad smell.
One Tengah resident wrote in a Facebook comment on Tuesday that she detected the burning smell the previous night. “Now the smell is quite strong. I feel like puking,” she said.
Mr Akira Heng, who lives in Clementi, first noticed a strange smell resembling burning plastic around 5pm on Monday.
Almost 12 hours later, he could still smell it from inside his bedroom even with the windows closed, the 40-year-old told CNA.
He could also smell it while using the lift, which he described as “particularly unpleasant”. He likened it to being trapped “inside a chemical chamber” with the elevator door closed.
Mr Heng, who works in creative design, said there have been similar burning odours in the past. But those were not as strong or distinct and usually lasted for about an hour before fading.
He did not experience any difficulty breathing nor felt like vomiting. “But I’m simply not used to this persistent and irritating smell that doesn’t go away,” he said.
As his house has an unrestricted view facing West Coast Park, he suspected the burning smell could have originated from the nearby Jurong Island.
Mr Eadmond Lim, who lives near the National University of Singapore, had similarly been plagued by a pungent gas smell over the past four to five days, when CNA spoke to him on Tuesday.
Mr Lim, who is self-employed and works in the food industry, pointed out that the smell was more prominent during working hours from 7am to 5pm. He too speculated that the smell could have been from a nearby industrial area.
The 46-year-old added that he sometimes detects the smell of exhaust fumes from the Pasir Panjang sea port, but the odour this time was different.
“It smelled heavy, like gas fumes,” he added. “It causes us a bit of headache when (it’s) too strong.”
