8 injured 2 dead after scaffolding collapses at MRT worksite
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8 injured, 2 missing after scaffolding collapses at MRT construction site
Posted: 18 July 2012 1008 hrs
SINGAPORE: Search and rescue operations are on for two workers who are still not accounted for, after the temporary scaffolding used for the construction of the new Downtown Line (DTL) Bugis Station subway link roof slab gave way.
Eight other workers were injured and were sent to the nearby Raffles Hospital before rescuers arrived.
They had minor injuries. One of them has since been discharged.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the incident happened at about 6.50am.
The scaffolding structure was about four metres high.
The area affected is localised, measuring about five metres by 10 metres.
The eight workers who were injured were working on top of the structure.
LTA engineers and personnel are at the site to assist SCDF and the Police to manage the situation.
The LTA said the DTL Bugis station structure is substantially complete and structurally sound. It said the incident poses no risk to surrounding developments and the public.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the tunnel is about three to four metres deep.
Channel NewsAsia's reporter on the ground said two search dogs have been sent to the underground site.
The Downtown Line is Singapore's fifth Mass Rapid Transit line. When completed by 2017, the Downtown Line's 34 stations are expected to serve about half a million commuters daily.
SBS Transit Limited is the operator for the line.
The Downtown Line project was announced in 2005, and was initially a five-station extension to the Circle Line.
Known as Downtown Extension - running between Millenia Station and ending at Chinatown Station on the North East Line - it was expected to cost some S$1.4 billion and be completed by 2012.
But in 2007, the government approved S$12 billion worth of plans to add more than 40 kilometres to the existing mass rapid system.
The aim is to raise the number of those commuting by public transport to 70 per cent by 2020.
The Downtown Line will now have 34 stations in all - constructed over three phases.
Stage One involved the stations of the original Downtown Extension, running 4.3 kilometres from Chinatown to Bugis.
Work on Stage Two started in 2009, covering 12 underground stations over 16.6 kilometres.
When completed in 2015, Downtown Line 2 will run from Bukit Panjang, along the Bukit Timah Corridor and terminate at Rochor Station, where passengers can connect at Bugis.
The final 21-kilometre stretch of Downtown Line 3 will link the Singapore EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre in the east to Bukit Panjang, with a loop through Marina Bay.
-CNA/ac/sf -
UPDATE: LTA confirms 1 dead after scaffolding collapsed at Downtown MRT Line's Bugis station. http://bit.ly/MjfRUL
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UPDATE: 3 of the 8 in hospital have been discharged.http://bit.ly/MjfRUM
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No cable ties?
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Originally posted by FireIce:
UPDATE: LTA confirms 1 dead after scaffolding collapsed at Downtown MRT Line's Bugis station. http://bit.ly/MjfRUL
Now its both dead.
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Originally posted by βÎτά:
No cable ties?
"No amount of cable ties can prevent this accident. It is an honest accident, once in 50 years. We must intergrate with the mistake. Let's move on." -
@thenewpaper: Downtown line accident: Both bodies found. First at 1040am, second at 1245pm. They were 1m apart, submerged in wet cement.
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These accidents do happen and we can't do anything to completely prevent. We can reduce possibility of accidents and conduct better QC, but minor defects can go unnoticed and cause some very nasty effects after a long time.
It's very sad that there are casualties, though. Hope the families can get some sort of financial and emotional support.
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they no release the IDs of the dead and injured workers.
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RIP.. i hope their families will be taken care of...
and i hope they find out what happened and prevent anything like that happening again