Post by : Badri Ariffin

Students and staff at Xinmin Secondary School in Hougang, Singapore, were briefly evacuated on Thursday, August 13, after the school received a potential bomb threat.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said it was alerted to the incident at around 8.20am. The school subsequently evacuated students and staff at about 8.30am after being informed of the threat.

Police Search School Premises

According to a notification sent to parents and seen by CNA, the school took immediate action following the alert.

Police officers and school personnel carried out a thorough search of the school premises. No suspicious item was found, the SPF said.

All students and staff members were accounted for and safe. The school later confirmed that regular lessons had resumed.

When CNA arrived at the school at around 11.45am, four police vehicles were seen parked inside the premises.

Xinmin Secondary School Vice-Principal Tan Kok Kwang told journalists outside the school that there were no further comments at that time and that they should wait for official updates. Security officers meanwhile kept the school's main gate closed.

Students Evacuated to School Field

A Secondary 4 student told reporters that she heard the principal make an announcement through the school's public-address system at about 8.30am.

Students were instructed to leave the building and gather on the school field. The principal told them the evacuation was due to a bomb threat.

The student said the incident happened suddenly and caught students off guard, with some students still sitting for examinations when the evacuation took place.

Parents Express Concern

Parents of students at the school also described their reaction after receiving information about the incident.

Cheng, whose child attends Xinmin Secondary School, said he was shocked when he received the notification about the bomb threat. He said he was deeply concerned about his child's safety and worried that a similar incident could happen again.

Another parent, Cho, whose son is in Secondary 2, said he was also shocked and surprised by the news.

He said he learned about the incident after 10am through Parents Gateway, the app used by schools to communicate with parents. He later received another update through the school's WhatsApp group for parents in the early afternoon.

Cho said the school's communication helped reassure parents that the situation was under control and that everything was safe.

Parent Praises School's Response

Another parent, Albert Hooi, who lives near the school, said he heard police sirens shortly after 8am.

He received the Parents Gateway notification at about 10am and said he was confident that the school had followed the appropriate safety procedures.

Hooi, whose child is 15 years old, said the school handled the incident professionally and made the right decision to ensure that everything was in order before informing parents.

He also said that an immediate rush by parents to the school could have created additional difficulties, and he was relieved that the incident ended safely.

Police Investigating False Information Case

The SPF said it is investigating the incident as a case of communicating false information of a harmful thing.

The offence carries a maximum punishment of seven years' imprisonment, a fine of up to S$50,000 (US$39,000), or both.

Police said security threats are taken seriously and warned that action would be taken against anyone who intentionally communicates false information about bomb threats.

The Channel NewsAsia (CNA) report said it had contacted Singapore's Ministry of Education and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for further information.

Similar Bomb Hoax at Singapore School in 2022

The incident comes four years after a similar bomb threat at Evergreen Secondary School in Woodlands.

That earlier threat was also determined to be false. At the time, the Ministry of Home Affairs stressed that security threats should nevertheless be treated seriously.

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