Workers used nylon rope to pull out driver of car that fell into Tanjong Katong Road sinkhole

Straits Times

15 hours ago

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Construction site foreman Pitchai Udaiyappan Subbiah speaking at the site of the sinkhole along Tanjong Katong on July 27.
SINGAPORE - Construction site foreman Pitchai Udaiyappan Subbiah and his colleagues were at a worksite near the One Amber condominium when they heard a loud sound on the evening of July 26.
The rushed out of the worksite to see
a sinkhole in the middle of Tanjong Katong Road South , and black car had fallen in.
To his surprise, he saw a woman coming out of the car.
'There was one car, and one madam was inside the car. I was thinking, 'somebody has dropped inside, I want to help',' said Mr Subbiah, who recounted the rescue to reporters at an interview on July 27 near the scene of the incident.
He gave instructions to three other workers to toss the woman some rope so they could pull her out.
In all the rescue effort took around three to five minutes, said Mr Subbiah, 46, who works for Ohin Construction.
The sinkhole later filled with water, but it was dry when workers rescued the driver.
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'I told my workers to go down and help her, but they said they cannot climb out. So they just threw the rope first,' he said.
Footage on social media showed other workers quickly placing barricades next to the sinkhole.
The sinkhole had formed at around 5.50pm on July 26, according to national water agency PUB. It caused a car to fall in and two lanes of the road to collapse.
The incident had taken place adjacent to a PUB worksite. Residents had earlier told reporters that there was a burst water pipe at the same area the night before the sinkhole appeared.
The driver was later taken to hospital by the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
PUB said in a July 27 statement on Facebook that the woman is able to walk and undergoing further medical checks.