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SINGAPORE – Service along the East-West MRT line was disrupted Thursday night (February 25) after a person entering a tunnel near Lavender station died.
The SMRT operator tweeted at 9.48pm that the outage between Bugis and Aljunied was due to a “train incident.”
The Straits Times understands that a person had intruded into the eastbound tunnel from an area of the portal, where the train tracks enter the underground tunnel, in Lavender.
It is not clear how the person got onto the tracks. ST understands that there are high fences to prevent unauthorized access through the portals.
In a statement posted on Facebook after 1 a.m., SMRT said a man was hit by a train near the Kallang MRT station on the East-West line to Pasir Ris.
“At approximately 9 pm, a train captain reported hitting an object near the Kallang MRT station. Our station manager was dispatched to the track and found a man immobile, about 150 meters from the MRT station from Kallang, “he said.
Later, one person was pronounced dead on the eastbound road near the Kallang MRT station, it added.
The operator suspended train services along the four-station stretch between Bugis and Aljunied in both directions, closed Lavender and Kallang stations, and activated free regular bus and free shuttle bus services.
He said he is assisting in police investigations.
The Singapore Civil Defense Force said it received a call for help around 9.35pm. An SCDF paramedic pronounced one person dead at the scene.
Freelance worker Bessie Tan, 59, said she was on a train from the city around 9:30 p.m. when passengers were told to disembark at Bugis.
“Then the train left empty,” he said. “We boarded the next train that was carrying passengers, but it didn’t leave Bugis and they told us to leave the train again.”
He added that at first, the announcement on the station “muttered something akin to an incident at Lavender.”
This is the first death on an MRT track since two SMRT trainees were hit by a train in March 2016.
There was one death on the most recent runway in March 2017, but on the LRT system, when a drunk passenger died after hitting the tracks near the Fajar station.
Jordan Lim, a 20-year-old student, initially thought Thursday’s incident was a regular train breakdown and wondered why the train lights were out.
“It really didn’t make sense to me. Then I stopped and saw the flashlights in the front of the carriage, so I speculated that someone might have been run over.”
Mr. Sng Ler Jun, 24, was running near the Kallang MRT station with a friend and the flashing lights of the SCDF vehicles caught his attention.
He then positioned himself directly under the tracks, where he heard officers yell “trauma bag.”
The freelance writer added: “There weren’t many people. I spoke to another couple who would have gotten on this train but had to take the shuttle bus.
“This is the first time I’ve experienced something like this.”
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