SINGAPORE — In a blooper, employees at the KFC outlet in Novena Square locked up for the night without realising there were still diners around, leaving five people trapped for close to an hour on May 29.

One of the trapped customers was Madam Jessica Chan, 57, who said she was chatting with two friends in the fast food restaurant after they had visited a schoolmate at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Engrossed in conversation, they only realised their predicament when Mdm Chan got up to dispose of her drink at 10.30pm.

She found the shutters drawn even though the lights of the restaurant were still on, save for the kitchen and counter area.

At a nearby table, there were two other customers stuck with them. One of them, a 40-year-old accountant who wanted to be known only as Mdm Wang, recounted: “I kept asking my friend to look out for the other group, but since they were (still) there, we didn’t think anything was amiss.”

Mdm Chan, a housewife, said they went into “panic mode” and sought help by shouting and pounding on the shutters but saw no one outside the outlet.

Eventually, they caught the attention of a group of Ngee Ann Polytechnic students passing by the outlet outside the mall.

The boys tried calling the KFC hotline, looking for the security guards of the mall, and checking if any of the shutters or doors could be opened.

The women, however, found a back door in the kitchen and went out at about 11.15pm, before the police arrived.

In response to TODAY’s queries, KFC apologised for the incident and said: “We have followed up with the affected guests and have reinforced internal protocols to ensure the dining area is cleared prior to closure of the restaurant.”

Mdm Chan also said KFC offered them a free meal as a token of apology but she chose not to accept it because she felt it was “not sincere”.