SINGAPORE — Some tenants located at the basements of Nex shopping mall had to suspend their operations following a water leakage incident in the mall on Saturday (Aug 6) that caused parts of the ceiling to fall.

In a statement on Sunday, a spokesperson from Nex said that the mall was alerted to a “water backflow incident” by a tenant on the first floor at around 6pm on Saturday.

The mall’s operations team subsequently identified that there was “a plumbing issue” which originated from the tenant’s floor trap and water had spread to the tenant’s retail area.

The water had also leaked down to basement levels 1 and 2, said the spokesperson.

Contractors were deployed to fix the choke which was resolved by 11pm.

However, the remnant water continued to leak down from the unit and had affected some tenants across basements 1 and 2, said the Nex spokesperson.

“For the safety of our tenants and shoppers, we have informed affected tenants to suspend operations until the issue has been fully rectified.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our tenants and shoppers, and will work with our contractors to rectify the affected areas as soon as possible,” added the spokesperson.

Tenants that had to suspend their operations due to the water leakage remained closed on Sunday.

The spokesperson declined to disclose the name of the affected tenants when queried by TODAY.

Shops located on basement 1 include restaurant Penang Culture and beauty retailer Innisfree, while basement 2 houses shops such as convenience store 7-11 and pawnshop Maxi-Cash.

A video of a false ceiling collapsing at the basement of Nex shopping mall made the rounds on social media on Sunday.

The video showed a hole in the ceiling of basement 1 of the mall, with white pieces of plaster from the ceiling littering the floor of basement 2. The area where the plaster had landed had also been cordoned off.

The spokesperson from Nex shopping mall confirmed that the fallen ceiling was related to the water leakage incident on Saturday.

In response to TODAY’s queries, the spokesperson said that the location affected by the fallen ceiling had been cordoned off since Saturday night and that no one had been affected by the incident.

This is not the first time that Nex shopping mall has been plagued with fallen debris.

In 2020, two people were injured during a movie screening after a ventilation duct at Shaw Theatres in the mall collapsed.

Investigations found that the duct collapse had been caused by overloaded brackets due to the weight of accumulated water.