Brave migrant workers rescue woman from Singapore sinkhole

The construction workers rushed to the driver’s aid after a 3-metre deep sinkhole opened up in eastern Singapore

Migrant workers in Singapore have been praised for their quick action in saving a woman after her car was swallowed by a sinkhole.

Social media videos show a 3-metre (10-foot) deep sinkhole suddenly appearing on Saturday evening along Tanjong Katong Road east of the citystate, causing a black Mazda to topple sideways into the hole.

Immediately, nearby construction workers can be seen rushing to her rescue. One worker leans into the sinkhole as two more workers approach the edge. As the driver emerges from the cavity, four or five workers pull her out.

Construction site foreman Pitchai Udaiyappan Subbiah was working at a Public Utilities Board (PUB) site close by when he heard a loud sound, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

Rushing to the scene, he saw “there was one car, and one madam was inside the car. I was thinking: ‘somebody has dropped inside, I want to help’”, the 46-year-old told reporters on Sunday.

Some of the workers had wanted to jumped into the hole to help the woman up but Subbiah advised them not to. “I said to my workers, you go down you also cannot climb up,” he told Channel News Asia.

Instead, they threw a nylon rope to the driver and pulled her to safety. Subbiah then lent her a phone to call her daughter.

The rescue took around three to five minutes. While the hole was dry during that time, water started filling it soon after, covering the car.

The workers’ quick thinking were lauded by social media watchers.

to the brave and fast acting workers,” said Maureen Yeong, who posted one of the videos.

“Let’s give credit where it’s due,” another comment under one of the videos read. “Migrant workers are generally invisible but in moments of bravery and selfless action, they should be acknowledged.”

Singapore’s civil defence also chimed in on its social media on Sunday, posting: “The person that [officers] conveyed to the hospital yesterday was rescued by workers at the site before our arrival. We will be reaching out to the workers to commend them for their bravery and prompt action in saving a life.”

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Herman Ching, director of PUB’s Water Reclamation Department said on Saturday that his team was investigating the cause, according to AsiaOne news portal.

He also said the driver suffered shoulder pain but was able to walk into the hospital.

“We acknowledge and appreciate the quick actions by the workers on-site who pulled the driver of the vehicle out of the sinkhole,” the PUB said in a statement on nday.

Sinkholes are rare in Singapore, and usually caused by underground tunnelling or excavation works, according to a Building and Construction Authority report last September.

“Naturally occurring sinkholes are usually formed by the erosion of soluble carbonate rocks including limestone and dolomite. Singapore’s geology is generally not susceptible to such sinkholes as these rocks are not near the surface,” the report reads. “There are no known sinkhole incidents caused by natural processes in Singapore.

Some of the more dramatic sinkholes happened more than 10 years ago, swallowing a car, motorcycle and truck, all of whose drivers emerged either unhurt or slightly injured, according to Wonderwall.sg news portal.

They have not been as deadly as the ones in other parts of Asia.

In May, a sinkhole measuring 20 metres (66 feet) wide by 18 metres (59 feet) deep in the South Korean capital of Seoul caused a motorcyclist to plunge to his death.

Meanwhile, an Indian tourist was presumed dead after she disappeared into an 8-metre (26-foot) deep sinkhole in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur last August.

So while residents were shocked at the latest one, some were still confident in Singapore’s safety standards.

“It’s shocking [that] something like this has happened in Singapore, but I’m sure that the authorities will do their utmost to ensure that it is perfectly safe before anything happens,” businessman Shakti Desai told The Straits Times.