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
