Ouch..
“A spot of festive entertainment took a turn for the worse when a dragon got caught on a ceiling fan and injured a diner,” reports Shin Min Daily News from an incident that occurred on Tuesday (28 Jan), Chinese New Year’s Eve, at Gim Seng Heng Seafood Restaurant along Sin Ming Drive.
In a video posted by @sgfollowsall on Instagram, a dragon dance troupe was seen performing on stage in front of a crowd of diners while a massive ceiling fan spun above them. As the dragon’s head was lowered to the floor, its body was twisted high up in the air, causing it to be caught on the ceiling fan. Consequently, the dragon and its handles were flung onto unsuspecting diners.
The unfortunate development led to the puppet troupe members losing their grip, resulting in the dragon hitting diners. Witnesses in the video could be heard saying, “it hit somebody” and “it’s bleeding.” According to an @sgfollowsall follower, the incident injured “many people” in the restaurant, including his father, who sustained a deep injury on his forehead as a handle struck him above his eyebrow, narrowly missing his eye.
The boss of the restaurant, identified only as 56-year-old Mr. Chen, disclosed to Shin Min Daily News that the incident occurred around 7 pm on 28 Jan during the first of two reunion dinners that night, attended by approximately 50 tables of diners. To enhance the atmosphere, they had hired a dragon dance troupe for the first time, along with other performers and a special stage setup.
Reflecting on the mishap, Mr. Chen shared that they did not anticipate such an incident and expressed gratitude that there were no severe injuries. He and the dance troupe have committed to covering the medical expenses of the injured diner, as revealed by Shin Min Daily News.
In the aftermath of this Chinese New Year incident at Sin Ming Restaurant, it was discovered that the diner sustained a cut that was promptly treated. With regrets over the unforeseen incident, Mr. Chen ensured that all medical expenses incurred by the diner would be handled jointly by him and the dance troupe.
Amidst this mishap, a separate Chinese New Year incident in Malaysia involved a condo unit catching fire due to fireworks coming from its balcony.
