Robinson's Department Store Fire
Tuesday, 21st November 1972
Robinson's Department Store at Raffles Place was destroyed by fire. The flames razed through the 114-year-old store. Nine people (eight of them employees of the company) died in the blaze which started at 9:55 am from a short circuit on the first floor of the four-storey building. The eight were trapped in the lifts during the fire while the ninth victim died in the toilet on the second floor. Millions of consumer goods for Christmas went up in flames.