SINGAPORE: Police are questioning a man in connection with an incident at Golden Landmark Shopping Complex this afternoon where an unknown gas was released.

The man is one of the 18 people who had been sent to hospital after an unknown gas was released at Golden Landmark Shopping Complex on Monday afternoon.

One of the victims was a two-year-old girl, but most of the others were in their fifties.

10 of them were sent to the Accident and Emergency Department at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and the other eight were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).

TTSH confirmed that besides this group of eight, one other person came on his own to the hospital.

Many of them had reported breathing difficulties, tearing, nausea, throat discomfort and skin irritation.

About 100 people were evacuated and the building was declared safe at about 5.45pm.

Most of the victims are now in stable condition.

Witnesses reported seeing a man in his forties spraying an odourless and colourless gas from a canister.

According to the police, preliminary investigations show that the man who had been sent to SGH for outpatient treatment was a victim of assault.

He was sprayed with an 'unknown substance' by two others who later fled the scene.

So police are on the lookout for the two male assailants.

One of them was wearing a white cap, with a dark top and jeans and has a scar on his right cheek.

The other man was plump and had tattoos on both hands. He was wearing a light-coloured short-sleeved top with dark pants.

The entrance of the Golden Landmark Shopping Complex was cordoned off for investigations.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was notified about the gas release at 4.11pm.

SCDF’s Colonel Eric Yap said: "Altogether, about 40 people attended to the incident. When we arrived, we did a full detection test of the premises. What we discovered was there is no residual contaminants in the premises, and we further confirmed this with a very precise testing of each of the locations."

SCDF also confirmed that the affected area was confined to a staircase lobby and the estimated 10-metre radius around it.

Most tenants had complained of breathing difficulties and eye irritation.

Colonel Yap continued: "There was a person that had fainted, we attended to the person and conveyed. The other remaining casualties that were conveyed complained of varying degrees of breathlessness."

One male tenant said: "About three elderly Malay ladies (were) also badly affected and they were also taken in the ambulance. In fact, all were having the same symptoms - breathing difficulty, watery eyes and severe coughing and all that."

While most are unclear about what had happened, witnesses told Channel NewsAsia that one man had released gas from a canister, in a fight with another man.

Another tenant said: "Two people were fighting, and all of a sudden one guy took out a cylinder and sprayed on him. And then there was a pungent smell and then the whole shopping complex was affected."

“I only saw the guy who was lying here and foaming. He was in a very serious condition. Then many people came and try to help him out but they couldn't because they themselves were having difficulties in breathing," he added.

Another witness to the incident said: "There's a guy, maybe male Chinese in his 40s. Apparently three of them had a fight. But we only saw one guy, the guy that was conveyed to hospital. He confronted us when we confronted him, then he was lying down there. He started foaming at the mouth and was later conveyed to the hospital."

"We felt this sort of chemical, we couldn't smell it but all of us started choking and we couldn't talk. We felt nauseous and we started vomiting because we were very near to the incident that happened."

Police are investigating the case. - CNA/vm