The Merlion had to be 'caged'' yesterday for workers to examine the hole in its head.

A lightning strike on Saturday had taken a chunk off its mane. The debris landed on the statue's base, cracking it.

Testifying to its iconic status, the Singapore Tourism Board lost no time sending in the troops to see to the damage.

Tourists and residents alike gawked at the 8.6m sculpture yesterday, trying to make out its injury through the mass of scaffolding.

Mr Anton Johannson, 23, from Sweden, was disappointed that he could not capture the Merlion 'in action'' on camera. It had stopped spouting water. But when told of the lightning strike, he cheered up: 'Now we have a story to tell people!''

STB did not say if this was the first time the Merlion, sited at One Fullerton, had been struck by lightning and whether there was a lightning conductor nearby that could have saved it from harm.

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