Stars Engineering and its sole director, 42-year-old Chua Xing Da, were convicted on May 26, 2026, of two charges under the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA) related to a fatal explosion at their Tuas Avenue 11 worksite in February 2021 [1, 2, 3].
The blast on February 24, 2021, killed three workers and injured seven others. The deceased were Bangladeshis Shohel Md, 23, Anisuzzaman Md, 29, and Indian national Subbaiyan Marimuthu, 38. All three victims died from severe burns covering 90% of their bodies [1, 2, 3].
The explosion involved a mixer machine used to manufacture fire-retardant wraps containing an aluminium exterior and a clay-like lining called "fire clay." Stars Engineering purchased the mixer in August 2019 and installed it on-site in June 2020 [1, 2, 3].
Chua and Stars were found guilty of failing to ensure the mixer machine was safe to use and for inadequate training and supervision of employees operating the equipment. District Judge Tan Jen Tse said, "More could have been done to ensure the safe use of the machine. Chua and Stars had failed to take measures that it was used properly" [1].
Myanmar national Lwin Moe Tun, 36, a project engineer at Stars, was acquitted of a WSHA negligence charge related to repairs made on the mixer machine’s damaged heater. However, he was convicted of two obstruction of justice charges for deleting messages from phones after the explosion. Chua was convicted of instigating him to delete these messages [1, 2, 3].
The 21-day trial concluded with the convictions on May 26, 2026, marking five years since the explosion that caused three deaths and injured seven workers at the Tuas worksite [1, 2, 3].
