http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/latest/story/0,4390,246785,00.html?

Aiyah post the entire article lah....:D

MRT work site at Nicoll Highway caves in, area closed to traffic
Posted: 20 April 2004 1632 hrs

SINGAPORE : Excavation works at the MRT Circle Line work site along Nicoll Highway near the Merdeka Bridge, behind Golden Mile Complex, collapsed at about 3.30 pm, the Land Transport Authority said on Tuesday.

This has resulted in major soil subsidence along Nicoll Highway.

The stretch of road is now closed to traffic and there was also disruption to the utility supplies in the area, the LTA said. It advised motorists to avoid this area until further notice.

Channel NewsAsia has been receiving many hotline calls over the incident. Some of the calls were from people in the Golden Mile Complex area, who say they are being evacuated from the building by police and civil defence officers.

The highway is not passable to traffic on both sides and police have cordoned off link roads leading to the highway. There were also unconfirmed reports that flames were seen in the area.

According to unconfirmed reports, at least 200 workers were working on this stretch of the Circle Line. One of the supervisors at the site told Channel NewsAsia that 30 of them have been accounted for, and four are missing. They include a crane operator. There was no immediate news on the other workers.

The Singapore General Hospital has confirmed that it has received one casualty, a Thai worker, who was in a wheelchair when he arrived at 4.15 pm.

A spokesman for SP PowerGrid has also confirmed that there was a power blackout in the Marina Centre and Suntec City area at about 3.35 pm. The blackout was attributed to the collapse of parts of Nicoll Highway, which damaged transmission cables supplying the Marina Centre area.

Supply has since been restored via alternative cables at 3.50 pm. - CNA

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/imagegallery/store/phpTRIZor.jpg

because the update is ongoing mar. click 2 view the latest

because the update is ongoing mar. click 2 view the latest
Hahaha...okok you win. :D

I just saw it on Channel News Asia.

The extent of the collapse is terrible! The road is badly broken.

Somehow I aint too surprised about that location. Didnt people complain about all the digging and tunnelling? I wonder how theyre going to explain this and the damage will take a while to repair......

Road collapses along Nicoll Highway
A PORTION of Nicoll Highway near the Golden Mile Complex where the MRT's Circle Line is being built collapsed at 3:30pm on Tuesday.


The buildings at the disaster site surrounding what looks like a crater have been ruled as undamaged and still structurally safe. -- WONG KWAI CHOW
Access to the road between the Kallang area and Suntec City has been blocked off by police and civil defence officers at the scene.

The casualties
One dead body - that of a Malaysian - has been pulled out of the rubble so far, and rescue teams, including search dogs, are on the job. Of the three people sent to hospital, two have been discharged after examinations by doctors. Three others, two Singaporeans and a Chinese national who were all construction workers, are still unaccounted for.

As night fell, rescue workers turned on powerful flood lights to continue their search.


Click here to zoom in

One of the injured, a Thai male in his early 20s, is in the Singapore General Hospital and his condition is stable. Tan Tock Seng Hospital, also on standby for more casualties, has examined and discharged two other injured workers.





The aftermath
A hole the size of two basketball courts now occupies six lanes of Nicoll Highway. Motorists have been asked to avoid the entire stretch of the highway and to use other alternative routes to and from downtown.

Eyewitnesses said that the pedestrian bridge across the highway has also toppled over. Other reports said fires were blazing in the site. Water was been gushing out onto the road, and some witnesses reported a strong smell of gas is in the air. Others felt tremors and heard blasts.

Gas and power disruptions
PowerGas confirmed that a section of a gas pipe along the highway was damaged by the collapse, but that engineers had shut off the supply. Gas supply to the area has, however, not been affected because alternative pipes are being used.




The collapse also interrupted the electricity supply to the Marina Centre area, affecting Suntec City, the Esplanade and Marina Square areas, according to a statement from Singapore Power.

A marketing communications manager working at the Suntec City told The Straits Times Interactive that the blackout occurred just before 4pm but was restored within 20 minutes.

Support beams gave way
The Land Transport Authority said that the collapse occurred around 3.30pm, when excavation works for the Nicoll Highway MRT station - part of Stage 1 of the Circle Line - near the Merdeka Bridge behind Golden Mile Complex collapsed.

A police spokesman said the support beams holding up the underground work site gave way. Some 20 workers were believed to have been working in the underground site at the time.

Police spokesman Tan Puay Kern has assured the public that the buildings in the area are undamaged and remain structurally safe. He also ruled out acts of sabotage or terrorism as the cause of the disaster, saying there was 'no evidence at this moment' to link it to terrorism.

Transport Minister visits disaster site
The Minister of Transport Yeo Cheow Tong visited the site in the early evening. Of the disaster, he noted that tunnelling had been used to build the MRT system for many years and that it was the first time this had happened. He added that no effort would be spared in sifting through the rubble to find those who are still unaccounted for.

The next key thing to do, he added, was to stabilise the ground in the area and to ensure the security and safety of the buildings.

He added that completion of the Circle Line would now have to be delayed, and that the highway - a main artery linking eastern Singapore with the Central Business District - will have to remain closed for the next few months.

He noted that traffic flow would inevitably be affected during this time. Motorists have been advised to use the East Coast Parkway or North Bridge Road to reach downtown.

SBS Transit announced that its bus services 10, 14, 16, 70 and 196, which normally ply Nicoll Highway, will now run along Kallang Road, Jalan Sultan, Beach Road and Bras Basah Road before resuming their usual routes. TIBS said its shuttle service 608 will use Beach Road instead of Nicoll Highway.

Wah....big big news on tv leh....

fr the footage on tv, seems that there was no vehicle on the road when it sunk.. really lucky man...

So lucky...

Also so lucky that it did not affect the historic Merdeka Bridge.

fr the footage on tv, seems that there was no vehicle on the road when it sunk.. really lucky man...

Yah, it's really lucky. Quite a big news I must say.

Strange....no car at all at 3pm on a weekday? Maybe they stop just in time?

Strange....no car at all at 3pm on a weekday? Maybe they stop just in time?

I also find it very strange too especially public buses (total of 6 services - 5 SBS Transit services and 1 City Shuttle Service) plying this section.

I guess many drivers of their vehicles probably braked hard when they saw explosion ahead. The most lucky are probably those who just drove over the road before it caved in.

Otherwise it would be terrible if buses carrying passengers and cars crashed into caved roads.

It is likely that we will know more details of Nicoll Station construction in coming days.

Soil in this section should be blamed for collapse of support beams...

Soil in this section should be blamed for collapse of support beams...they should have made provision for such soil condition, esp after complaints about cracks in the vicinity. will I see some heads rolling???

I heard that the explosion of the gas pipe caused the collapse? Anyway fortunately 3pm isnt rush hour time. That area is a 'messy' area isnt?

http://www.straitstimes.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2004-04-20/front_nicoll_0420.jpg

The latest reports now say it is not to do with the explosion...dunno true or not. And terrorism is ruled out? :D

u think the terrorists r so kind??

I wonder how long the Circle Line will be delayed...but more pressing is the restoration of Niccoll Highway.

u think the terrorists r so kind??
Maybe its a rehearsal?

The latest reports now say it is not to do with the explosion...dunno true or not. And terrorism is ruled out? :D

My guess is that after March flash flood that affected parts of Singapore and heavy rain, soil in this collapsed section may become "softer" gradually erode and give away so the temporary wall / support beams buckle under pressure from above. The soil in this section is probably marine type.

I wonder how long the Circle Line will be delayed...but more pressing is the restoration of Niccoll Highway.

Restoration of Nicoll Highway may take at least one year to 2 years depending on completion of findings by the police and LTA to pinpoint the actual cause of the collapse.

If there is rail switch available somewhere between Nicoll Highway Station and Boulevard Station that allow the trains to reverse, the opening of Stage 2 plus Boulevard Station may open together with Stage 3, maybe either late 2008 or early 2009 (Stage 3 was scheduled to open in 2008, followed by Stage 4 and 5 in 2010). So Stage 1 from Dhoby Ghaut to Nicoll Highway may probably remain closed until the collapsed section is repaired and ready to serve rail services. This is my guess...

eew that's terrible terrible news.. i was fooling around at agnes b in raffles city when suddenly there was a blackout then i got so excited and snapped pictures all around... didnt know the extent of the damage until i saw it on tv... i heard on tv someone saying nicoll highway may take 1 to even 2 years to restore!

Authorities rule out terrorism in Singapore highway collapse




SINGAPORE: A portion of the Nicoll Highway near the Golden Mile Complex where the MRT’s Circle Line is being built collapsed at 3.30pm, killing a Malaysian worker while three others are missing.

Police and civil defence officers at the scene have blocked off access to the road between the Kallang area and Suntec City. Authorities have ruled out terrorism and acts of sabotage in the incident.

The body of crane operator Vadivil Nadason, 38, from Taman Universiti in Skudai, Johor Baru, has been pulled out of the rubble so far, and rescue teams, including search dogs, are looking through the debris.

The late Nadason leaves behind a wife and five children.




http://www.thestar.com.my/archives/2004/4/21/nation/p1collapse.jpg

The collapsed portion of Nicoll Highway after steel beams supporting excavation work for an MRT station gave way in Singapore yesterday. The authorities have blocked off access to the road between the Kallang area and Suntec City until search operations are completed.






Of the three people sent to hospital, two have been discharged. A hole now occupies six lanes of the highway.

Eyewitnesses said the pedestrian bridge across the highway had toppled over.

Other reports said fires were blazing in the site. Water was seen gushing out onto the road, and some witnesses reported a strong smell of gas is in the air. Others felt tremors and heard blasts.

Utility provider PowerGas confirmed that a section of a gas pipe along the highway was damaged in the collapse, but that engineers had shut off supply.






http://www.thestar.com.my/archives/2004/4/21/nation/p4rumble.jpg

SAFETY CHECK: Workers inspecting part of the collapsed Nicoll Highway where the MRT Circle Line is being built. — AFPpic








Gas supply to the area was not affected because alternative pipes were being used.

The collapse also interrupted electricity supply to the Marina Centre area, affecting Suntec City and Marina Square, according to a statement from Singapore Power.

A marketing communications manager working near Suntec City told The Straits Times Interactive that the blackout occurred just before 4pm but power was restored within 20 minutes.

The Land Transport Authority said the collapse occurred at 3.30pm, when excavation work for the Nicoll Highway MRT station – part of Stage 1 of the Circle Line – near Merdeka Bridge behind Golden Mile Complex collapsed.

A police spokesman said the support beams holding up the underground work site gave way.

Some 20 workers were believed to have been working in the underground site at the time.

Motorists have been asked to avoid the entire stretch of Nicoll Highway.

Another eyewitness said that the navy’s Fokker planes were seen circling the site.

One injured worker, a Thai in his early 20s, has been sent to the Singapore General Hospital and is in stable condition.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital, also on standby for more casualties, has examined and discharged two other injured workers.

Police spokesman Tan Puay Kern assured the public that the buildings in the area are undamaged and remain structurally safe.

Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong visited the site yesterday evening.

He said no effort would be spared to sift through the rubble to find those who are still unaccounted for.

He added that construction of the Circle Line would now have to be delayed, and that the highway – a main artery linking eastern Singapore with the Central Business District – wouldremain closed for the next few months. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network

Wah! We get such prominent coverage internationally! Sze...which page did that report appear in the Star?

My friends, what happened here is really quite a disaster. :( It cost at least one life and caused enormous damage. Not only will this set back the construction of the new subway line, but the costs in rebuilding the freeway, the pedestrian bridge and other destroyed infrasturcture and buildings (?) will be enormous. Considering the situation, however, it is amazing that the damage seems to be limited to what we have heard thus far.

actually... i dont imagine costs to be too enormous.. no buildings were damaged. it was 'only' nicoll highway and the circle line construction that was damaged... the area of nicoll highway damaged was about the size of a football field. the cost of replacing the toppled pedestrian bridge should be negligible. but still it's probably one of the worst accidents to happen to singapore in recent years. thankfully it should have little effect on the economy, unlike sars last year.

Nicoll Highway collapse: 3 still missing
SINGAPORE - After finding no sign of three missing workers from the Nicoll Highway collapse site with ultra-sensitive life-detection equipment overnight, Civil Defence rescuers moved in heavy equipment to dig deeper into the wreckage on Wednesday.


PLUGGING HOLES

TO PREVENT further soil subsidence or movement, quick-drying cement is being poured into the periphery of the gaping hole behind Golden Mile Complex and more detailed checks are being carried out on buildings in the area to make sure they are safe.
Some building owners, after word of the collapse got out, said they had spotted cracks earlier.

FAMILY'S PLEA

The daughter of one of the three men still trapped made an impassioned plea for co-workers to come forward to alert rescuers where the missing men were last seen to help pinpoint their location.

Along with her mother and other relatives, she kept vigil at the Kampong Glam Community Centre nearby, throughout the night.


The life-detection equipment had failed to find any signs of life, said Singapore Civil Defence Force commissioner James Tan. And five rounds of searches by sniffer dogs also drew a blank.

The three missing men -- two Singaporeans and one China national -- are believed to be buried up to 30m deep in the ground after a massive collapse at a Mass Rapid Transit Circle Line construction site on Tuesday afternoon wrecked a stretch of Nicoll Highway, which will now be closed for many months.

The accident, which happened around 3.30pm near the Merdeka Bridge, killed one construction worker and injured three others. It caused a crater 30m deep, 100m wide and 150m long along the highway.

The cause appeared to be the collapse of a temporary supporting wall for a tunnel of the new Circle Line.

The SCDF deployed a fresh batch of rescue workers on Wednesday after another crew worked through the night.

Straits Times reporters were also on the scene throughout the night.

SCDF commissioner Tan said at the site: 'We can't find any signs of life at all but we are not going to stop our search mission.

'We are utilising heavy machinery to mobilise the next phase of the search. We call it the cutting and lifting phase and piece by piece we are going to remove the rubble. In this way we hope we can go further down to carry out our search.'

Efforts to find the missing men have been hampered by the muddy surface which is prone to unexpected soil movement and rising waters flowing in from the Singapore River but which has since been stemmed by sandbags.

Steel and concrete rubble also stand between rescuers and the three men, and time seems to be fast running out. -- AFP


News at 4pm.

On the one hand, I sometimes find it is a little overpublicised. The Straits Times had 3 full pages for this incident, while the main Chinese counterpart (Linahe Zaobao) had 7!!

However, we face the possibility of up to 4 deaths in this case. A life is a life, yes, but it seems like the "disaster" was blown out of proportion just because of the traffic problems it is going to cause to many commuters, and the delays in completing the rail line? Are we more concerned about economic costs and personal inconvenience, or the lost of human lives?

I find it a more memorable incident, because of the whole host of blessings which seem to have avoided a far worse consequence then imaginable. For example, most of the workers were actually away for their regular tea break during that time, avoiding a far higher casualty rate. And all the traffic vehicle on Nicoll Highway apparantly managed to stop on time, another miracle considering most would speed on that section of the road!

Oh no... my mom's company insures circle line.... they're gonna lose money for sure...

Oh no... my mom's company insures circle line.... they're gonna lose money for sure...
Depends on what exactly they insure thou...I hope the insurance plan is not too comprehensive from one company?

Well, my mom's company insures alot of high-risk operations too so i think they should be able to handle this without any problem. Heck, they lost US$30million or more(i know it had a 30 and an '-illion' somewhere) in the 911 attacks, i think..... They also insure part of the Petronas project and part of the boeing factory in everitt... Hehe...

Oh....fine....you shall not have my sympathies then! :D

Hehehe.... anyway, i don't know alot about insurance things so....

Off to dinner!!!!

CNBC Canada reported this news as well ,so did Aust.'s Herald Star.:D

SINGAPORE: Rescue workers said on Wednesday they had detected no signs of life in their search for three missing workers trapped underground in the rubble after a massive collapse at the Mass Rapid Transit Circle Line construction site along Nicoll Highway.

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) commissioner James Tan said heavy equipment had been brought in to enable rescue workers to dig deeper into the wreckage, which reaches more than 30 metres below the ground.

Advertisement


"We can't find any signs of life at all but we are not going to stop our search mission," Tan told the media from the accident site.

Rescue workers, accompanied by specially trained dogs, have been searching upper levels of the rubble for nearly 24 hours for the three men.

"We are utilising heavy machinery to mobilise the next phase of the search," Tan said.

"We call it the cutting and lifting (phase) and piece by piece we are going to remove the rubble. In this way we hope we can go further down to carry out our search."

The three missing men - two Singaporeans and one Chinese national - were trapped underground when the subway tunnel they were working on collapsed about 3.30 pm on Tuesday.

The body of a Malaysian construction worker, identified by police as 44-year-old crane operator Vadivil Nadason, was pulled out of the rubble shortly after the accident.

Authorities said the accident occurred when a section of a tunnel being built for a new subway line collapsed, causing part of the Nicoll Highway to fold.

The cave-in caused a crater 30 metres deep, 100 metres wide and 150 metres long along the Nicoll Highway.

Media reports said the death toll could have been much higher except that, when the accident occurred, 20 workers who would normally have been labouring inside the collapsed section of the subway tunnel were outside on a tea break. - AFP

CNN didnt find this important enough, but BBC has this short article:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/nav/v3_banners/v3_ukfs_banner_rb.gif

Search for Singapore survivors

Rescuers searching for three construction workers trapped in an underground tunnel in Singapore have detected no signs of the missing.

The three - two Singaporeans and one Chinese - were working on a new underground rail line when the roof of the tunnel they were building collapsed, causing part of the highway above them to cave in.

The commissioner of Singapore's civil defence force, James Tan, said rescue workers were using heavy equipment to dig further into the 30-metre-deep crater the collapse has caused.

The body of a Malaysian worker was pulled out of the rubble shortly after the accident on Tuesday.

Anyway...notice how inaccurate BBC can be with this line "the roof of the tunnel they were building collapsed, causing part of the highway above them to cave in?"

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/assets/nav/b_home.gif

April 20, 2004

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_1.jpg
The collapse occurred at approximately 3.30pm during excavation works for the Nicoll Highway MRT station, part of the MRT's Circle Line.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_2.jpg
Curious residents line the corridors of this Beach Road HDB flat overlooking the collapsed area..

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_3.jpg
Bus companies that were evacuated from Golden Mile Complex set up temporary desks to resume operations.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_5.jpg
It is business as usual for an employee from travel agency Grassland Express, whose office is situated at the Golden Mile Complex, near the collapsed highway.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_4.jpg
A pedestrian bridge straddling the Nicoll Highway breaks apart as the ground below gives way.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_6.jpg
Police have ruled out acts of sabotage or terrorism as the cause of the disaster. Police spokesman Tan Puay Kern on Tuesday assured the public that the buildings in the area are undamaged and remain structurally safe.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_7.jpg
Some 20 workers were believed to have been working in the underground site at the time of the collapse. One worker was found dead. Three others are still missing.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_8.jpg
Police and civil defence officers have blocked off access to the road between the Kallang area and Suntec City. The collapse also interrupted the electricity supply to the Marina Centre area (seen in background), causing a temporary power outage at Suntec City and Marina Square.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_9.jpg
Support beams beneath the Nicoll Highway give way, causing it to collapse. The force of the collapse was so powerful that eyewitnesses reportedly felt tremors.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_10.jpg
The construction of the Circle Line will be delayed and the highway will remain closed in the next few months.

What a nightmare...sorry guys

Why were there no cars on the highway at all?

Actully it is quite fortunate that it didn't happen on the Newpaper Bigwalk day, which is very possible as the weight of the thousands on top would be much more than on a normal occasion. If that did happen, at least a few hundred would have lost their lives.

Why were there no cars on the highway at all?

Actully it is quite fortunate that it didn't happen on the Newpaper Bigwalk day, which is very possible as the weight of the thousands on top would be much more than on a normal occasion. If that did happen, at least a few hundred would have lost their lives.
Well.....the news says they all stopped in time. I suppose Singaporean drivers are too used to playing Daytona all day....

Walao..your NP Big Walk line of tot is too horrible to think about!

Well.....the news says they all stopped in time. I suppose Singaporean drivers are too used to playing Daytona all day....

Walao..your NP Big Walk line of tot is too horrible to think about!

Yah, the Straits Times said the cars all stopped in time.

Haha, they play Daytona and now they play Initial-D. Good if they did, it might have prevented a bigger disaster.

Second body found in Nicoll highway collapse

RESCUE workers recovered a second body from the site of the Nicoll Highway collapse late on Wednesday night, believed to be that of the Chinese national.

A journalist from The Straits Times said civil defence officers brought up what looked like an orange body bag from the rubble at about 11.40pm.

At a press briefing, civil defence force commissioner James Tan said the body is 'most probably of the chinese national', but added that it is swollen beyond recognition.

He said the body will be fingerprinted.

The second fatality in the accident could be one of three reported missing since Tuesday - two Singaporeans and a China national.

They were believed to be buried up to 30m deep in the ground after the collapse of a temporary supporting wall in the tunnel for the Mass Rapid Transit's Circle Line station near Merdeka Bridge along Nicoll Highway.

One man was pulled out dead on Tuesday evening.

Wah! We get such prominent coverage internationally! Sze...which page did that report appear in the Star?


I appeared on the front page like all Malaysian 'disasters'/biggie events (I initially tot this is somewhere in Malaysia actually!) :eek:

The front page coverage only carries the title 'Highway Collapses' and then this picture >

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_10.jpg

....then the rest of the articles are in the 4th page.........so The Star carries 2 full pages of this incident.....

Wow! Is that a normal phenomena? I dont recall issues here gaining that much coverage over there right?

For some strange reason I still think the entire issue if over-hyped!

Wow! Is that a normal phenomena? I dont recall issues here gaining that much coverage over there right?

For some strange reason I still think the entire issue if over-hyped!


Yup....this is the first time (that I could recall) that a Singaporean 'event' carries that much coverage here. And the article I posted earlier is actually taken off The Star....... :eek:

If I got my bearings and landmarks correctly....this should be the site of the tragedy rite?




http://ftp.maxis.net.my/szehoong/pix/spore/Nicoll Highway Tragedy/IMG_2207smmod.jpg







Bonus...a nite time pix.....


http://ftp.maxis.net.my/szehoong/pix/spore/Nicoll Highway Tragedy/IMG_2231smmod.jpg

YEASH!! It took place just to the top of that deverted section! :D

This is how prominently The Star carries the story in Malaysia.....I dunno bout other papers cos I dun subscribe to em.......but it was all over the national news on TV! :eek:


Nothing on CNN International apparently..........I kept tuning into it today and all I saw are those middle-east war thingy and the released of the Israel nuclear scientist from prison......... :(




http://ftp.maxis.net.my/szehoong/pix/spore/Nicoll Highway Tragedy/IMG_2302sm.jpg





http://ftp.maxis.net.my/szehoong/pix/spore/Nicoll Highway Tragedy/IMG_2305sm.jpg





http://ftp.maxis.net.my/szehoong/pix/spore/Nicoll Highway Tragedy/IMG_2308sm.jpg






http://ftp.maxis.net.my/szehoong/pix/spore/Nicoll Highway Tragedy/IMG_2309sm.jpg

Hua!! Its even more impactful then the one in the ST!!

Hua!! Its even more impactful then the one in the ST!!

yea.....at first glanced I tot this was somewhere in Malaysia! :bash:



I din keep an eye on BBC World but I believe they could have reported it as they have it on their website.........

BBC did have a short (and inaccurate) report on this...as I posted ealier in this thread. :D

Latest News | Updated April 22, 1.05 pm (Singapore time)

Third body found at Nicoll collapse site

By Joshua Lye

SINGAPORE - The body of a Land Transport Authority engineer was found at the Nicoll Highway collapse site on Thursday morning, bringing to three the number of dead from the accident. One person, believed to be a Singaporean, is still listed as missing.

Singapore Civil Defence Force commissioner James Tan said that Mr Tan Lock Yong's body was found at 9.45am. Reports said it was difficult extricating his body and it was only removed from the rubble two hours later.

The family has been informed and they have gone to the mortuary to claim the body. Mr Tan's daughter Catherine and son Raymund had made impassioned public pleas on Wednesday for colleagues who had seen him last to help pinpoint his location.

The SCDF is set to make a decision soon on the next course of action to find the remaining person: whether to continue the time-consuming manual digging or to use heavier equipment to cut through and remove the rubble and so get deeper into the 30-m deep hole.

President SR Nathan was at the accident site on Thursday. He assured Singaporeans that no effort would be spared to find the remaining missing person and get to the bottom of the accident. He was also heartened to see the hard work of the rescuers and the training that enabled them to respond speedily to accidents.

A massive collapse of a Mass Rapid Transit construction site on Monday afternoon had wrecked a stretch of Nicoll Highway, which will now be closed for many months.

The accident near the Merdeka Bridge killed Malaysian crane operator Vadivil Nadason, 44, and injured three others. Mr Nadason's body was found on Tuesday at 6pm.

The second of the three missing people to be found -- removed on Wednesday at 11.45pm -- has not been identified but is believed to be a Chinese national.

The remaining missing person is believed to be Mr Heng Yeow Peow, who dived into the pit to save his colleagues but has not been seen since.

The accident apparently occurred after a temporary supporting wall for a tunnel of the MRT's Circle Line collapsed.

There might have been more casualties, except that most of the site workers were having their tea break when the tragedy happened.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2004-04-22/22sin.jpg
Mr Tan worked in LTA for more than 20 years.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2004-04-22/familynicoll_3.jpg
Mr Tan's daughter and son, Catherine and Raymund, had earlier appealed to anyone with information on where their dad was last seen to come forward.

The story was very sad.....

Sometimes things just happen like that. Guess that's life. My sincere condolences to those who lost their loved ones. May those who left us rest in peace.

Its even sadder when you see the news on tv.....

Count it lucky that there were no vehicles on the highway at the time ,and the Golden Mile Tower & Complex were not affected.

It was a very close shave for these buildings.

Traffic on the highway can be rather heavy at rush hour.Even at 2am ,you can hear traffic on the highway.Luckily it was not rush hour at that time.

I wonder if anyone saw the video of the vehicles screeching to a halt just before the collapse?

http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980000768-7736-3282-3480/img0004.jpg
The Nicoll Highway.
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980001355-8151-3231-2013/img0083.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980001355-8151-3231-2013/img0092.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980005861-8120-3181-2494/img0068.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980007351-8262-3202-1116/img0070.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980007351-8262-3202-1116/img0040.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980001351-8151-3231-2018/img0058.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980006562-8105-3181-0770/img0115.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980005860-8120-3181-2493/img0088.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980001355-8151-3231-2013/img0093.jpg
http://picas.nhb.gov.sg/data/tn_pcd/19980007344-8262-3202-1109/img0007.jpg
Merdeka Bridge.

They are going to remove a section from your beloved bridge! :D

Why were the statues removed?

Why were the statues removed?
Statues?

http://ftp.maxis.net.my/szehoong/pix/spore/nicoll highway tragedy/the sun front page 21-4-2004.jpg

......for the benefit of Huaiwei ;)

Oh...no wonder it gets front page news....because the first casualty is a Malaysian?

Oh...no wonder it gets front page news....because the first casualty is a Malaysian?


well...this was The Sun which highlighted the 'Malaysian killed' situation. If you look closely at The Star report which I posted earlier........it didn't mentioned it in the first page. It was only mentioned briefly in the article ;)

The Sun had to sensationalised something as it is a free paper......so.......oh....just another trivia - The Sun is the only English language paper not owned by any govt-linked company :D

No lah..I wont call the 'Malaysian killed' as sensationalising..in fact...the Star seems even worse for not mentioning the details on the first page! :D

I am jus wondering if the my papers are giving this issue major coverage as it involved a mysian?

Im very sorry that several lives were lost from this accident. But on the lighter side, at least this is considerably a small number of casualty. Let us just hope that this thing won't happen again and no more lives would be wasted... :)

No lah..I wont call the 'Malaysian killed' as sensationalising..in fact...the Star seems even worse for not mentioning the details on the first page! :D

I am jus wondering if the my papers are giving this issue major coverage as it involved a mysian?


Putting big-big pictures on the front page when something big happens is a regular style of The Star. They've been doing this for years and apparently it boosted its sales. :D But whenever there is a picture spread on the front cover, it would usually followed by news on the first few pages. Sometimes the picture spread is even larger! :D

Nope......Intl events which doesn't involve any Msians does get pretty good coverage here. The latest Basra bombing which happened yesterday got prominent coverage in the Malaysian newspapers what........Let's take a look at an even more promiment coverage of Basra:

http://ftp.maxis.net.my/szehoong/pix/spore/nicoll highway tragedy/the sun front page 22-4-2004.jpg




ANyway The Sun is the only newspaper highlighting the Malaysian factor on its caption so making it sounds like becos of a Malaysian it got prominent coverage. Maybe they tot by highlighting a Malaysian involved might boost sales.....I dunno.....but as for as I know most people I am in contact with aren't too 'shocked' that a Msian is involved as there are many construction deaths around the country per year (okaylah....mostly involving Indonesian and Bangladeshi workers but there are Msians too).....but there is a fine line in between sensationalising and news reporting....depending on how the article are written and how the title are put together. But the New Strait Times did carry an article on the Malaysian worker's family reaction to the matter with interview and stuffs. ;)

It is just ironic that the first victim to be pulled out and identified is a Malaysian. Even if that is a Singaporean/Indonesian and no Malaysian involved, I believe that the news would receive an equal attention too as like in many other intl events/tragedy ;)

ANyway most of my friends are surprised of the collapsed despite the impeccable safety record of the MRT and other tunneling construction in Singapore not the 'Malaysian killed' factor. :D

Im very sorry that several lives were lost from this accident. But on the lighter side, at least this is considerably a small number of casualty. Let us just hope that this thing won't happen again and no more lives would be wasted... :)
Yeah...the LTA will need to reassure the general public that the entire CCL construction and all future construction are safe!

BTW, welcome to the forums, and I saw from your blog that you are a foreign student in Singapore? Correct me if I am wrong! :D

Thanks for the updates on what the Malaysian press is reporting sze. btw that was the road where we caught a cab from, after the trip to SunTec City, although we werent standing on that stretch.

Thanks for the updates on what the Malaysian press is reporting sze. btw that was the road where we caught a cab from, after the trip to SunTec City, although we werent standing on that stretch.


no prob man :okay:

yea.....I was telling my dad that just now of how close we we're and he was like telling me not to go near any construction site be it in Malaysia or Singapore.....hehehe :lol:

I remember I took the picture of The Gateway from the spot where we waited for the cab. I wonder what one of my friend felt/experienced as she is working on the 37th floor of The Concourse....hmmmmmmm...... ;)

Wakao why the response so long one ah? :D

Anyway....I seriously dont think it is that "unusual" for something like this to happen. So many of our developments are taking place on reclaimed land, and the ORQ construction already demonstrated just how tedious it can be to build on such land. We do have a fair share of accidents too, although none to this scale of coz.

For this particular case, all it took was just one of those massive steel barricades giving way for watever reason to lead to such a catastrophic chain of events. If you remember our last visit, we saw the same digging process going on from the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, remember? Imagine one of those metal bars falling over, and thats it! We might have then entire bridge collapsing as well! :eek:

Luckily for about 20 or so workers, they already went for tea-break and off the site when the accident happened.

Nicoll Highway is a very busy road and we all must have used it at some time or other. This is a very 'lucky accident' on 2 counts: that the workers were at tea break and that no vehicles were involved on such a major road. While it is just another construction accident, I still find the idea that the whole road is broken unreal and that it will be taken out for at least 9 months!

and I'm a bit nervous about construction sites now, especially since we see many of those dug-out tunnels with the steel rods here. I hope this is a one-off for as they said, the site was exceptionally deep.

Wakao why the response so long one ah? :D

Anyway....I seriously dont think it is that "unusual" for something like this to happen. So many of our developments are taking place on reclaimed land, and the ORQ construction already demonstrated just how tedious it can be to build on such land. We do have a fair share of accidents too, although none to this scale of coz.

For this particular case, all it took was just one of those massive steel barricades giving way for watever reason to lead to such a catastrophic chain of events. If you remember our last visit, we saw the same digging process going on from the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, remember? Imagine one of those metal bars falling over, and thats it! We might have then entire bridge collapsing as well! :eek:


hhaha....in case you get the wrong idea......nah.....just to let ya know that the press and the people here aren't naive and only interested in things happening to 'Malaysian only'. Anyway we are not like 'a certain country' where the only news that matters happens only in their homeland! :D


yea....of coz I remember seeing it.....we we're so up-close......I think we breach the construction site or something ....hehehehe.......and I do remember how deep the tunnel is :eek:

As I meantioned earlier...remember that big hole we saw beside Millenia? Remember how deep it was...and how it was held back by those steel bars? I wonder if it will give me the creeps if I stare down at one of them now...

hhaha....in case you get the wrong idea......nah.....just to let ya know that the press and the people here aren't naive and only interested in things happening to 'Malaysian only'. Anyway we are not like 'a certain country' where the only news that matters happens only in their homeland! :D


yea....of coz I remember seeing it.....we we're so up-close......I think we breach the construction site or something ....hehehehe.......and I do remember how deep the tunnel is :eek:
But it is only natural for the media to give more coverage to international events whereby locals are directly affected right? It does happen to ourmedia here too....like you wont normally year them talking about someone being arrested for drug trafficking in Myanmar unless he is a Singaporean right? :D

As I meantioned earlier...remember that big hole we saw beside Millenia? Remember how deep it was...and how it was held back by those steel bars? I wonder if it will give me the creeps if I stare down at one of them now...

Freaky! If the beams snapped the soil could crumble and drag everything nearby in with it.

But according to the news you will hear a snapping sound first..so run for your life if you hear that! :runaway:

Freaky! If the beams snapped the soil could crumble and drag everything nearby in with it.

But according to the news you will hear a snapping sound first..so run for your life if you hear that! :runaway:
Where u gonna run if you happen to be on top of the bridge?? :D

But it is only natural for the media to give more coverage to international events whereby locals are directly affected right? It does happen to ourmedia here too....like you wont normally year them talking about someone being arrested for drug trafficking in Myanmar unless he is a Singaporean right? :D


yalah......news involving Malaysians does gets more coverage here and nothing wrong with that. But a biggie news such as this from Singapore does gets prominent coverage wether or not it involve Malaysians or not but what I am actually surprised is that the news coverage is so big that it made me think this wuz in Msia when I first took a glanced at it.


What I tried to explained earlier is that the magnitude of the news coverage here isn't determined by wether it involved Malaysians or not. A quick tune to our TV channels which most Singaporeans could tuned to would tell ya that the Malaysian victim isn't widely mentioned as the 'actual news' itself. I am not saying that the local media is ignoring the poor soul that died but it is not because of that the news got such prominency. ;)

They even covered interviews like those with one of the execs of LTA (I think the head or something.....forgot his position and name) on his views on this matter and they also have this 3D-rendering of the collapsed........ :D

Try to act crazy and flag a taxi on the expressway?

Alternatively you can try to run to Marina City Park. Since the bridge is built in sections with individual legs its unlikely it will all collapse. Anyway kinda morbid -_-

Where u gonna run if you happen to be on top of the bridge?? :D

Jump into Marina Bay? :D

Jump into Marina Bay? :D
The bridge will fall on us instead! :D

The bridge will fall on us instead! :D


I would jump on the other side instead loh! :D


Good luck to Raffi in hailing for a cab! :lol: .....I can imagine him running in slow-mo towards Marina City Park with Vangelis' Chariots Of Fire playing in the background....hehehe :lol:

sze u seem kinda hyper tonight ah :dizzy:

sze u seem kinda hyper tonight ah :dizzy:


ehhehe....just woke up at 10pm after a 'nap'.......gotta sleep soon cos gotta wakey tomorrow at 7am! :D

Now still feelin a bit 'awake' and lively.........:)

Yup can sense you are livelier tonight..your posting style seems to be a bit similar to huaiwei's tonight too for some reason :sly:

Wahaha! Bloody hilarious! :D

Actually this hole isnt the biggest yet.....the worse is the one for the Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway....they better not let anything happen!

Wahaha! Bloody hilarious! :D

Actually this hole isnt the biggest yet.....the worse is the one for the Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway....they better not let anything happen!


This 'hole' is an MRT station rite? ......I guess they would be extra careful the next time even so if it is a bigger 'hole'. Anyway how long would the Circle Line be delayed for? :?

No idea man......maybe by a year or so? Might as well lah...since it makes more sense to open with the later phases...haha! :D

huaiwei ,I meant the lion statues on Merdeka Bridge.

huaiwei ,I meant the lion statues on Merdeka Bridge.
Oh...there was an entire episode of a show dedicated to investigating those lions....seems like they might have been moved to SAFTI.

They ARE moved there ,near Safti Tower.

But why?They look very nice at the bridge!

They ARE moved there ,near Safti Tower.

But why?They look very nice at the bridge!
Biut there are similar status at some other places you see....so its not confirmed?

I just heard from the news that they are going to stop the searching operation altogether. However, till now they still have not found the body of the last missing person... This is really saddening...

Yeah....have to stop for now because they detected soil movements....seems like the buildings along Golden Mile are increasingly in danger...

Hope that they can find ways to stablise the soil quickly.... So that those buildings near it won't get affected...

Yeah lah...but I still think the main desire is to find the body back.....this reminds me of how we have a missing body too from the RSS Courageous saga.

Sort of reminds us how small Singapore is. Such an incident can touch the entire nation in such a major way. I can imagine if this same accident happened in a big country like the US for example, hardly anyone would care except those directly affected.... Sort of a warning for us. We have to be very careful about ourselves. Minor mistakes are never as minor as they should be.

Wah.....so philosophical again! :D

Meanwhile...better be on the lookout for terrorists!

Eh? Philosophical? No lah.....

Terrorists are an ever-present threat, and they're usually more deadly too... sigh.... this world is so unstable... like group I element ... sigh....

Haha! Did you hear about the latest terrorist threat we face?

What's that?

What's that?
Check it out here

http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=81253&goto=lastpost

Ayoh....

I go to the Beach Road area at least 3 times a year.I last went there 2 months ago.The site was rather noisy.

I go to the Beach Road area at least 3 times a year.I last went there 2 months ago.The site was rather noisy.
Due to the construction?

Yup.

And I confirm that those lions at Merdeka had been moved to SAFTI.I went to the open house a few years ago and saw a plaque there.

Open house of SAFTI?

More photos:

April 21, 2004

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_1a.jpg
Road diversions, like this one which diverts traffic from Crawford Street onto Beach Road, were set up to keep traffic out of the Nicoll highway area. Traffic moved slower than usual in some areas due to the detours. -- WANG HUI FEN

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_2a.jpg
The collapse of the road left a hole measuring 100 metres by 150 metres, about the size of a basketball court. It also disrupted utility supplies in the area but these were restored shortly after. -- WONG KWAI CHOW

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_3a.jpg
The LTA said that the crumbling of a wall in the underground Circle Line construction site at Nicoll Highway, caused the collapse. An independent panel set up by the LTA will review the design and construction of works on the line. -- WANG HUI FEN

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_4a.jpg
Land Transport Authority director of projects Rajan Krishnan said the Nicoll Highway site was especially difficult as it was among the deepest open-excavation tunnels, and was dug on reclaimed land sitting on gooey marine clay. The authority has set up an independent inquiry panel to investigate the cause of the accident. -- WANG HUI FEN

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_5a.jpg
Quick drying cement was used to stabilise the area around the collapse and to prevent water seepage. A temporary bank of cement bags was also built to stop water flow onto the incident site. -- WONG KWAI CHOW

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_6a.jpg

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_7a.jpg
Miss Catherine Tan, 29, seen here with brother Raymond Tan, 24, made a plea for workers to alert the rescue team on where their father, LTA engineer Mr Tan Lock Yong, 59, who is still missing, was last seen at the site. Kampung Glam Community Centre is currently being used as a relative holding area where family members of those who are missing are receiving professional counselling. -- LAU FOOK KONG

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nicoll_8a.jpg
Search dogs were brought in to reinforce the rescue operations as night fell on Tuesday. Two Singaporeans and one Chinese national remain missing. -- WANG HUI FEN

April 22, 2004

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nic_1.jpg
Cracks have appeared in shops along Arab Street in recent months due to the Circle Line construction works. Occupants claim that each time the gaps are filled by the LTA, new ones surface. It was a surprise to shop-owners when the LTA said there were no warning signs before the collapse of Nicoll Highway. -- TERENCE TAN

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nic_2.jpg
Rescue workers recovered the body of Land Transport Authority engineer John Tan Lock Yong, from the rubble at 9.30am on Thursday. It took about two hours to extract his body as the dead man was submerged in water and pinned under a lorry. -- CHEW SENG KIM

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nic_3.jpg
President SR Nathan said that search-and-rescue operation will continue until the last missing person is found, when he visited the Nicoll Highway disaster site on Thursday. He assured members of the public that the Government is doing all it can to prevent such an incident from happening again. -- AZIZ HUSSIN

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nic_4.jpg

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/nicoll/photo/nic_5a.jpg
President SR Nathan commended rescue workers on Thursday morning for their unstinting efforts in searching for the four missing persons. The Singapore Civil Defence Force officers spent six hours extracting the body of a Chinese national as they had to rely largely on touch. -- WANG HUI FEN

they stopped searching for the last missing person? I guess its inevitable but so sad and a torture for the family -_-

Yes, it's indeed a real torture for the family of the last person.

Yah ,open house.You seem shocked.

Search called off

Too dangerous to go on; movement could affect surrounding area as well
Nearby buildings safe; checks show no shift in ground there
By Sharon Loh

MORE than three days after the cave-in at Nicoll Highway, rescuers were forced to call off the search for the last victim yesterday, because it had become simply too dangerous to carry on.


An unstable matrix of concrete slabs, steel beams, rubble and mud made rescue difficult and unsafe. -- CHEW SENG KIM
A slight movement could unsettle the unstable matrix of concrete slabs, steel beams, rubble and mud and bury rescue workers alive. If that happened, it would also endanger the surrounding area.

Singapore Civil Defence Force Commissioner (SCDF) James Tan announced the news to the media at 6.45pm. 'I am very sad to make such a decision, and I have to say sorry,' he said.

He revealed that he had broken the news himself two hours earlier to the family of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, 40. The foreman had gone back in to help others out, after a temporary supporting wall collapsed on the Circle Line MRT construction site and triggered the massive cave-in.

It was painful for the family to come to terms with the search being called off.

Rescue officers in their familiar orange-and-black vests have been withdrawn. But work to seal and stabilise the site will go on. Since early on Wednesday, workers had been doing this by pouring cement into the gaps.

Golden Mile Complex, the nearest building, is in no danger yet, since continuous checks show that there has been no movement in the ground there since the collapse on Tuesday.


But this could change if the authorities do not act to stabilise the area now.

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng was grim-faced as he told reporters that there was no alternative to calling off the search.

The gauges had registered continuous soil movements over the last few days and this meant the surrounding areas would be hit if no action was taken now.


'This is a very painful and very difficult decision to make but the government has no choice because this has implications for the safety of the whole area,' he said.

By Thursday, the bodies of the other three who died had been found and the search then focused on the collapsed tunnel shaft and two water-filled depressions nearby.

Rescuers believed Mr Heng may have been near the tunnel's base, as far as 30m underground.


Going 15m deep, rescuers and divers were chin-deep in water, and at risk of being buried alive at any time. -- SCDF VIDEO
After divers found nothing on Thursday night, the SCDF started pumping water out of the muddy depressions at 6am yesterday. Within two or three hours, they could see bottom, but not a body.

Another team tried to burrow its way to the bottom of the tunnel, but were defeated by a forest of twisted steel, concrete rubble, mud, water and clay in their way. They could not go straight down, and had only got as far as 15m.

Until the halt was called, only a heavy downpour at 3pm forced a stop yesterday, and only for 20 minutes.

Mr Heng's family had gone to the site at noon yesterday to see if anything more could be done.

Last night, the family visited the site one more time, accompanied by a monk chanting prayers and performing the last rites for Mr Heng, a father of two young children.

Also at the site yesterday was the three-man committee of inquiry appointed by the Manpower Minister. Senior District Judge Richard Magnus, who heads the panel, said the public hearing would begin on June 1.

'Because of the gravity of the matter, we'll start at 9am and finish about 6pm, Mondays to Fridays, until we complete the entire hearing,' he said.

A pre-inquiry conference of parties who want to be represented at the inquiry will be held on May 14.

The Land Transport Authority has also convened an independent panel to investigate the collapse.

Yesterday, Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong assured Golden Mile Complex tenants that the risk of the building's foundation being disturbed by earth movements was 'extremely small.'

It is being constantly monitored for changes in ground conditions.

Business at shops there has been slow; and shopkeepers, jittery, since Tuesday.

Mr Yeo said: 'As it stands today, it is 100 per cent safe but we are monitoring to make sure that if conditions do change, we are aware of it.'

Inspections of two other sites, Golden Mile Tower and the Concourse, have shown that they are safe, he added.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2004-04-24/prime1a.jpg
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2004-04-24/prime1b.jpg
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2004-04-24/prime1c.jpg
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2004-04-24/prime1d.jpg

Nearby buildings in no danger of collapse
Readings taken every two hours at three buildings close to disaster site show they are structurally sound

EVERY two hours, workers check soil movement, building tilt and other parameters at the Golden Mile Complex, Golden Mile Tower and The Concourse. All readings indicate that they are structurally safe and in no danger of collapse.


A Tilt meter is used to check columns at the Golden Mile Complex. -- Lau Fook Kong
Giving the clearest indication yet that people living and working close to the Nicoll Highway disaster site are safe, Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said yesterday afternoon that the cave-in had not compromised the safety of the buildings so far.

He spoke to the media in the basement carpark of the Golden Mile Complex after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) had briefed him on the work being done to monitor any ground or structural shifts.

'Within the building, there has been absolutely no movement in the walls, the columns or the floors, from day one. I think that is a key assurance,' he said.

Outside, a drain about 5m away from the compound had moved by about 1cm, he said.

Since the collapse on Tuesday, the LTA, working with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), has stepped up checks from about once a day after construction work on the MRT line started to every two hours to assess the safety of nearby buildings.

At the cave-in site about 100m away, there was significant soil movement, especially the day after the disaster, but the situation has since stabilised 'a fair bit', he said.

Still, close monitoring will go on as long as necessary. Mr Yeo said: 'As it stands today, the building is 100 per cent safe, but we are monitoring to make sure that if conditions do change, we are aware of it.'

He understands how anxious people who live or work nearby must be, he said, but emphasised that they shouldn't be unduly worried.

Asked if an evacuation drill would be conducted, he said: 'At the present moment, there is no indication at all of the need for an evacuation, so let's not panic the people.'

He gave the assurance that if a building was deemed unsafe for any reason, the occupants would get ample warning. They would get several hours' notice, he said.

'The engineers... are not going to wait until the whole building is tilting before saying, 'Let's move'.'

To keep an eye on the buildings, various instruments are being used: the crack meter measures whether cracks have widened, the tilt meter checks the tilt of a building's critical columns, and the inclinometer, a tube-like device embedded in the soil, monitors soil movements up to 45m underground.

Checks have also been intensified on buildings further away, at The Plaza, a residential and office building in Beach Road, and in the Arab Street area, said the BCA, which held its own media briefing at the Golden Mile Complex before Mr Yeo arrived.

Occupants of The Plaza and several shophouses in Arab Street had earlier complained about wide cracks they had noticed on the walls and on the ground since January.

Both Mr Yeo and the BCA emphasised that it was common to see cracks in buildings near heavy construction sites, but unless such faults show up in the columns and beams supporting a building, they are not dangerous.

Asked about SMS messages being circulated, that claimed the Golden Mile Complex was being evacuated and The Concourse was tilting, Mr Yeo said: 'Never listen to speculation. If there is anything that needs to be done, it will be broadcast officially... So, SMS messages from friends and so on - please disregard them.'




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Cracks are no cause for alarm

'I THINK if you look back over all the years, when there is a major construction activity, it is very difficult to prevent some soil movement; therefore cracks in buildings are fairly common.


In my own house, when my neighbour started building his house, I had some minor cracks as well.

But the engineers tell me that the key thing is to make sure that the cracks are not in the load-bearing areas like the columns and the beams. It's like the floor here. The LTA engineers tell me that the cracks I'm seeing have been here for many years and, in fact, when they did the pre-construction survey, they found them here already. So such cracks are fairly common and there is no cause for alarm.

There is cause for alarm only when you get a major earth shift, which may result in the foundations being disturbed.

For this building, the foundations are built on steel piles that go very deep... so I think the risk is extremely small.'

Walao.......watching the family members of the missing victom is simply heart wrentching.........:cry: :cry: :cry:

Yes that's life....condolences to them....

He shall die a celebrated figure forever remembered for his noble ultimate sacrifice by his children and widow.

Here's one consolation, at least they know where to "locate" him.....

Here's one consolation, at least they know where to "locate" him.....
Meaning? The site of death?

yes...

Let's hope he can rest in peace...

APRIL 25, 2004
Dad's gone, it's just a fistful of soil for memory
By Arti Mulchand

DANIEL HENG returned home yesterday with a fistful of soil from the cave-in site at Nicoll Highway, a last reminder of the father he lost in the tragedy.

Despite an exhaustive and dangerous search lasting three days, rescuers never found the body of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, the father of 10-year-old Daniel and a foreman with Kori Construction, a sub-contractor for the MRT Circle Line project.

That handful of soil, taken from the work site near where Mr Heng was last seen alive, was what his family had asked for.

It's to represent his body, said the dead man's nephew, Mr T.W. Heng, 21, a full-time national serviceman. It's been put into a miniature symbolic coffin behind Mr Heng's portrait. On Wednesday, the coffin and soil will be cremated together.

Yesterday, at the disaster site, more rites were performed for Mr Heng. That half hour held enough emotion for a lifetime for Daniel and his sister Joann, eight, who stood gripping her father's beige polo T-shirt in her hands.

They beseeched his spirit to 'come home'.

'Papa, faster come home! Come back!' they called out in Mandarin.

'Where are you?' said one of his brothers, in a voice racked with desperation.

As the ceremony neared its end, Mr Heng's mother, Madam Chua Baka Eng, 70, staggered away, supported by relatives. She was dry-eyed and seemed drained of tears.

Joss sticks in hand, Daniel, still urging his father's spirit to follow them, led the family onto a waiting bus. He was followed by Joann and their mother, Madam Sally Poa, 34, all weeping. As they left, more than 30 workers in uniform moved towards the altar, took off their hard hats and stood in silence, their thoughts with the man who had saved their lives only to lose his own.

The wake was held at Madam Chua's Tampines home. At least three of the Thai workers also went there to pay their respects and his colleagues from Kori Construction attended the wake in the evening.

Again, Madam Poa broke down when she spoke about her husband, the family's sole breadwinner. His has been classified as an unnatural death and the family can make no insurance claims until a death certificate is issued. But that could take up to seven years, unless the authorities make an exception.

At the wake, representatives from the project's main contractor, Nishimatsu, gave the family $30,000, to tide them over their current difficulties. The Northeast Community Development Council has given them $1,000 and more help may be forthcoming.

The children have taken some comfort in the fact that their father died a hero.

Daniel said he would now be the man of the house. He said: 'My daddy's a brave man. He's a good example and a special person. Not many would do what he did.' -- Additional reporting by Tracy Quek


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Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

It is horrifying sad to imagine a body which is never recovered...I would be a very sad soul if my body ends up lost forever....

In chinese there is one saying,"wu si liu pi, ren si liu ming" (when the tiger dies it leaves behind its skin, when human dies we leave our reputation(name) behind). I think that is more important to the heroic victims....

In chinese there is one saying,"wu si liu pi, ren si liu ming" (when the tiger dies it leaves behind its skin, when human dies we leave our reputation(name) behind). I think that is more important to the heroic victims....
Woah! A very apt saying indeed in this case!!

Woah! A very apt saying indeed in this case!!

Thanks :happy:

Thanks :happy:
Trust the learned and intellectual to say the right things at the right time. Confucious would be impressed! :D

You flatter me.... But I don't think I say that to impress Confucious ha....

You flatter me.... But I don't think I say that to impress Confucious ha....
Hahah! of coz not, but I suppose that is a virtue we Chinese would subscribe to. Or maybe only the more "traditionally-inclined" would associate it with Confucianism...:D

But Chinese thinking do have a lot to do with Confucius thinking.... The phrase I mention shows very clearly that Chinese are particular about "internal", that's why it is more important to leave behind a reputation than your "skin"(external).... This has to do with the confucius philosophy....

But Chinese thinking do have a lot to do with Confucius thinking.... The phrase I mention shows very clearly that Chinese are particular about "internal", that's why it is more important to leave behind a reputation than your "skin"(external).... This has to do with the confucius philosophy....
But at the same time, it seems like Chinese tradition is very preoccupied with how the body is treated after death? There is alot of tot, for example, of the soul having to find its body and so on. The idea of carrying out funeral rites without a physical body seems to be very taboo as far as the Chinese are concerned?

Is this a contradiction, or can they mutually co-exist? Or am I misunderstanding something here?

But at the same time, it seems like Chinese tradition is very preoccupied with how the body is treated after death? There is alot of tot, for example, of the soul having to find its body and so on. The idea of carrying out funeral rites without a physical body seems to be very taboo as far as the Chinese are concerned?

Is this a contradiction, or can they mutually co-exist? Or am I misunderstanding something here?

I think that's because in Chinese thinking, there are 3 major component. Confucius thinking, Buddhist thinking and Taoist thinking. So having to find the body etc are actually religious thinking of taoism. But because that's integrated in the chinese thinking, we did not realised it(was religious) until we do a deeper research on it.

But do you consider Taoism as a "religion"? Sometimes I dont seem to see it as one...I dunno why. And that is even more so about Confucianism!

Confucianism is not a religion, it's a thinking a philosophy. However, taoism is definitely religious. The reason why we don't see it as religious here is because of a lack of understanding in Singapore. In Singapore, we always treat those rituals, joss sticks etc associated with Taoism, but we seldom talk about it's thinking(we see it as 民俗传统）....

Yeah....seems like many of us just see it as a collection of "traditions." More of cultural rituals then religious ones?

I would say religious rituals cept not many knew why it was religious, ha...

I would say religious rituals cept not many knew why it was religious, ha...
I dont know either. I was supposed to be born a "taoist," but I never udnerstood anything from it. I became a Buddhist when I was about 13 years old, but by the time I was 16, I felt I know enough of what is good and evil to need a religion. By age 19, I was so humbled by the experiences I got thinking I am "above religions" that I became a Christian till today (the only one in my entire extended family to be a Christiant)....

Talk about rebellious....:D

Don't your parents object?? Or was it 'who cares'? ha....

Don't your parents object?? Or was it 'who cares'? ha....
My parents are very dissappointed...to say the least! :D

I must be quite a horrible boy to bring up!

You'll know it when you become a father next time, ha....

You'll know it when you become a father next time, ha....
Hope my bad genes dont get passed down...haha

Well that depends on your "ming", ha...

Well that depends on your "ming", ha...
Maybe I should just keep all my genes for myself...but that is an open rebellion against my family and the government....hmm....:D

Well I'm sure there will be chance when you could inherit that genes...ha...

Buddhism is much older than Christianity ,and Taoism is much older than Buddhism.

Well I'm sure there will be chance when you could inherit that genes...ha...
I sure hope so...although being rebellous can be good too? :D

I sure hope so...although being rebellous can be good too? :D

That depends. In the pursuit of knowledge, being a little rebellious and doubtful is good....

Here is a recap of the entire string of media articles sine the day it happened...

APRIL 21, 2004
MRT worksite collapse wrecks Nicoll Highway

By Sharon Loh

A MASSIVE collapse of a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction site yesterday afternoon wrecked a stretch of Nicoll Highway, which will now be closed for many months.

The mid-afternoon accident near the Merdeka Bridge killed one construction worker and injured three others. Three men were missing and feared dead.

By last night it appeared that the accident occurred after a temporary supporting wall for a tunnel of the MRT's Circle Line collapsed.

There might have been more casualties, except that most of the site workers were having their tea break when the tragedy happened.

While completion of the Circle Line now looks likely to be delayed, thousands of commuters must now use alternative routes into and out of the city, and put up with congestion for several months while the highway is repaired.

The volume of traffic disrupted is unprecedented, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said.

Everything happened very quickly yesterday afternoon.

Thai construction worker Vehakul Somchia, 28, was bringing tools down to the site at about 3.30pm when he saw a crane and wall collapse.

He dumped his tools and ran.

'I just knew that I must get off this bridge or I would fall in and die,' he said. 'When the crane sank into the ground there was a man inside.'

Within minutes, the surrounding area caved in, leaving a gaping ravine 30m deep strewn with twisted steel beams, rubble, cranes and excavators.

Motorists ground to a halt in time, as a 100m stretch of the highway collapsed.

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng arrived at the scene and assured the public: 'There is no indication that this is foul play.'

Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, who came in the late afternoon, said the surrounding buildings were safe, and the top priority now was the search and rescue operations, involving some 75 firefighters and rescue dogs.

The body of a Malaysian crane operator in his 40s, Mr Vadivil Nadason, was brought out at 6.15pm, while search teams worked on to find three others believed to have been driving machinery at the bottom of the site when the wall came down.

Three others were injured and taken to hospital. Two were later discharged from Tan Tock Seng Hospital - an Indian national, 25, and a Singaporean, 47, both with leg injuries.

A Thai worker, 21, with head injuries is still at the Singapore General Hospital.

Even as curious onlookers crowded the area, police cordoned off Merdeka Bridge and sealed all roads leading to Nicoll Highway.

The impact of the accident was felt far and wide.

As Nicoll Highway sank, gas, water and electricity cables snapped, causing power to go out for about 15,000 people and 700 businesses in the Marina and Suntec area.

Tenants and residents in the Golden Mile Complex, near the collapsed stretch, were also evacuated.

Several callers to The Straits Times said they heard an explosion, while others reported blackouts.

Though some eyewitnesses said they saw flames flash across Nicoll Highway, the LTA said it had no evidence of an explosion.

When leaking gas was detected, Power Gas shut off the supply to the severed pipe, said Mr Rajan Krishnan, LTA's director of projects, at a news conference last night.

The loud sound of the collapsing wall 'might have sounded like an explosion', he said.

Electricity was restored at 3.50pm.

The huge boom which sounded at 3.30pm sent many office workers scurrying to their windows, to be stunned by what they saw.

From his 18th-floor office at Golden Mile Tower, Mr Vincent Chan, 28, said he heard a loud sound 'like a huge aircraft approaching the building'.

Rushing to the window, he saw a ball of fire on the far side of Nicoll Highway.

'Then the steel reinforcements lying horizontally across the road started to fall into the hole one by one, like dominoes,' he said.

Others ran out of their buildings for safety.

Ms Sirirat, 48, a permanent resident from Thailand, was sewing in her shop on the first floor of the Golden Mile Complex when she heard a loud bang.

'I saw many women running out of their shops,' she said. 'They said: 'Gas explosion! Run for your life'. So I followed them. I thought it was a bomb.'

Speaking to reporters yesterday, the Transport Minister said the LTA would now stabilise the ground and ensure the buildings in the area remained secure.

'Tunnelling has been going on for many years but this has never happened before,' he said.

'LTA will do its utmost to repair the damage and the rest of the Circle Line project will continue.'

The LTA said it could be six to nine months before Nicoll Highway might be opened again.

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A 30m-deep ravine opened up within minutes of the first collapse, which has initially been blamed on a temporary supporting wall. -- WONG KWAI CHOW

Blast... ball of fire

IT FELT like an earthquake. Like a gas explosion. Like a huge aeroplane crashing. Like a bomb.

Then a fireball shot out from under Nicoll Highway. Minutes later, another rocketed up from its centre.

Mr Vincent Chan, 28, saw it all from the 18th floor of Golden Mile Tower, when he rushed to his office window on hearing that loud noise.

As he looked down, the steel supports over the tunnel of the Circle Line site began to fall over 'like dominoes down into the deep tunnel'.

Then the surrounding area sagged into the tunnel, and swiftly and smoothly the highway caved in 'like soft sand giving way', starting with the city-bound carriageway.

A crane tilted drunkenly and sank in, followed by the white cement mixer behind it. The crane operator was still inside, said Thai construction worker Vehakul Somchia, 28.

Suddenly, the wall opposite him caved in, said the worker, and he dropped his tools and fled. 'I just knew that I must get off this bridge or I would fall in and die,' he added.

The steel beams collapsed 'like they were made of bamboo', said Mr Wong Seng Cheong, 62. He and his wife, Madam Low Mui Tiang, 58, ran out of their 12th-storey apartment in Golden Mile Complex with their four-month-old grandson.

Madam Low, a housewife, said: 'I was taking a shower when I heard an explosion. I thought it was a National Day Parade rehearsal so I shouted to my husband to take our grandson onto the balcony to see what was happening.

'He shouted back, 'National Day Parade your head, you'd better come out of the bathroom so we can go downstairs'.'

Mr Wong said he saw a pick-up truck fall in together with the guard house next to the construction site.

Thai-born Ms Sirirat, 48, a Singapore permanent resident, rushed out into the open, like the other women who run shops on the first floor of the Golden Mile Complex.

'They shouted: 'Gas explosion! Run for your life!' So I followed them. I thought it was a bomb,' she said.

The floor shook, then the lights went out, said money changer Mohammad Sarbudeen, 46. 'I thought the building might collapse and I ran out too. I didn't even take the money with me. I only took my cordless phone and my handphone with me. I didn't even lock the shop,' he said.

Nearby, The Plaza and The Concourse in Beach Road both had blackouts, and about 50 people who work there decided it was safer to leave though there was no evacuation order.

The power outage also hit all of Suntec City, including its five office towers and convention centre.

At Foote, Cone & Belding, an advertising agency on the ninth floor of Tower One, people didn't worry at first when the computers and lights went out, said designer Faye Wong, 25. But they got scared and left after spotting policemen redirecting traffic on Nicoll Highway.

A Land Transport Authority engineer who spoke on condition that he not be named said he'd driven over Nicoll Highway no more than 10 minutes before it collapsed.

'When I rushed back to the site, the road was gone, the highway had completely sunk,' he said.

Workers were soon told to evacuate and national emergency teams alerted. Several LTA teams were also called in.

The engineer's first thought was for the workers on site. As many as 50 could have been on site.

Then he heard that four workers hadn't been accounted for. Crane operator Vadivil Nadason, 45,a Malaysian, was pulled out dead. The search continues for the other three.

The tunnel that caved in was being built by open-cut excavation: Concrete walls are built and the soil in between is removed to build the tunnel. The crew were still excavating when disaster struck.

But what caused it?

Said the LTA engineer: 'The soil puts a lot of pressure on the walls because the soil between them is removed, and that support needs to be replaced with something equivalent. And when a wall or a strutting collapses, it causes everything else to fail, it's like a domino effect.'

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Fire leaps out from under Nicoll Highway, seconds before the MRT construction site collapses. -- ST READER CHRISTOPHER A. ALIBIN

Late break saved lives

As many as 20 other workers could have died if they had not been taking a teabreak nearby. Three are still missing

A TEABREAK saved at least 20 lives yesterday.

When the Circle Line site caved in at around 3.30pm, most of the construction workers were in the canteen on the surface, about 100m away, having their daily 20-minute recess.

At least one worker is still in shock. So is his family in southern India. 'My family saw the news on SunTV, and they have already called me to come home,' he said.

Rescuers could not save 45-year-old crane operator Vadivil Nadason, a Malaysian-born permanent resident and father of five children. His body was found near his crane at 6.15pm.

At the site was his sobbing brother, Mr Muniandy Nadason, 48, a building maintenance senior supervisor in Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2. He had called his brother earlier to plan a trip to Kedah to see their ailing sister.

His family in Johor Baru have decided to have him buried in Malaysia.

'What to do? This is fate,' Mr Muniandy said quietly. 'I'm just very glad he was found earlier than I expected, and I feel very sorry for the other families still waiting for news. At least now we can arrange for his funeral.'

At least a dozen family members of the three workers - two Singaporeans and one China national - who are still missing, are keeping vigil at the Kampong Glam Community Club in Crawford Street, which is being used as a holding area for relatives.

They are being aided by counsellors that the LTA arranged for.

LTA chairman Michael Lim, who visited them late last night, told The Straits Times that they were still optimistic that their loved ones are alive.

'They want news, and we are hoping we can give them regular updates from SCDF,' he said.

'They are very concerned and anxious and we can understand their position. All we can say is that we do feel for them tremendously.'

The search went on overnight and is expected to last until this evening.

If the missing workers cannot be found by then, the SCDF will then use heavy equipment to clear the rubble.

Mr Heng Yeow Peow, 40, a foreman for high-beam specialist Kori Construction, was hurt trying to save other workers. His condition is not known.

His wife was waiting for news at the St John's Headquarters in nearby Beach Road. Mr Heng, who has two children, aged eight and 10, oversaw a team of eight men.

Three other workers were also hurt. The Singapore General Hospital admitted a 21-year-old Thai construction worker at 4.15pm, to treat the man's face, neck and jaw injuries. His condition is said to have stabilised.

Two others arrived at Tan Tock Seng Hospital within minutes of each other around 5pm. A 25-year-old Indian national had leg injuries. The other man, a 47-year-old Singaporean, had superficial leg injuries. Both were discharged by 8pm.

Rescue efforts at the cave-in site behind the Golden Mile Tower included the SCDF's Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team, rescue dogs, 75 fire-fighters and other rescuers.

The disaster destroyed two excavators, five mini-excavators, three cranes and lorries.

Five supplementary fire engines and three ambulances are on standby at the scene.

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Closed and devoid of all traffic hours after its collapse, Nicoll Highway is now a series of gaping cracks and broken tarmac.

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Rescue workers recover the body of a crane operator, a 45-year-old Malaysian, near his crane at 6.15pm.

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Fighting back tears, Mr Muniandy, the brother of the dead worker, had just spoken to his sibling earlier in the day.

Blackouts triggered by damaged power cables

THE collapse of a section of Nicoll Highway triggered a series of blackouts yesterday afternoon in buildings in the vicinity of the incident area at the western end of Merdeka Bridge.

The cave-in also forced gas supply engineers to scramble to plug any leaks from damaged gas pipelines, while transport officials rushed to re-route buses and put additional MRT trains on standby ahead of the peak-hour rush from the city.

The effects were felt even some distance away, in Toa Payoh.

In The Straits Times newsroom, the lights went out. Electricians who investigated the blackout put the time of the power outage at precisely 3.31pm - about the same time as the collapse - and said it had been caused by a 'power surge'.

But the effects of the power disruption were felt most keenly in the immediate area of the incident.

At Raffles City, Ms Jennifer Lee, an information technology executive, 31, said the office tower there was hit by a blackout shortly after 3.30pm.

Hundreds of offices and shops in the Suntec City and Marina Square areas were also hit.

The blackout occurred because electricity cables owned by Singapore Power running the length of the six-lane highway were damaged when part of it caved in.

This, in turn, triggered a power surge, which caused electricity circuits in some buildings to shut down to protect equipment from the sudden jump in power.

Mr Nigel Cham, 36, who runs Miniature Hobby, a store at Marina Square, said the lights and air-conditioning in his shop went out for about 20 minutes. Business was affected as the shop's electronic cash register was down.

A statement from Singapore Power later said electricity had been fully restored around 3.50pm via alternative cables.

Also damaged: a section of PowerGas pipeline along Nicoll Highway.

Onlookers near the site of the collapse reported a strong smell of gas. However, the company said service to customers in the area was unaffected as the supply was routed through other gas pipes.

As search and rescue operations went on last night, engineers worked to stabilise the ground and ensure the security and safety of tall buildings in the area.

Nicoll Highway is built on reclaimed land.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said the Building and Construction Authority has already conducted checks with engineers and certified that surrounding buildings are safe.

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng also assured occupants of the buildings' safety and added that more thorough checks will be carried out later.

REACTIONS

The cave-in

'I saw the retaining wall on the other side of the road collapsing. Water from the sea started flowing onto the road. Then the steel beams that hold the retaining wall up began to collapse one by one...

'At the construction site, a cement mixer and two cranes collapsed as well... A lot of workers started running. There was a strong smell of gas, so I called my wife who was in the bathroom. I turned off the main electricity switch then rushed downstairs.'
- Retiree Wong Seng Cheong, 62, who lives in a 12th floor flat in Golden Mile Complex

The ball of fire

'There was a huge traffic jam and the cars were all honking. Because the fire was so huge, the cars stopped before the highway, just before it all started to cave in.

'In fact, the cars were quite a safe distance away because the drivers were afraid after seeing the fire. It was so huge.'
- Mr Vincent Chan, 28, a management consultant who works on the 18th floor of Golden Mile Tower

The blackout

'I heard a dull thud and then I felt the entire building swaying. All of a sudden, the power went off, the air-con shut down and the fire alarm went off.

'We thought it was a regular fire drill, but then we started receiving calls that the bridge near the office had collapsed.'
- Ms Elaina Chong, 28, managing director of event management and public relations consultancy Kaitten, located on the seventh floor of the 16-storey Golden Mile Complex

The evacuation

'By about 4pm, the building management told us to evacuate the building. When we got downstairs, there was a lot of confusion.

'The people facing away from the highway didn't know what was going on. But everyone left quite calmly.

'Then we heard it was safe, so we went up to pack our bags. At about 5pm, security came to all floors and told us to evacuate.'
- Management consultant Vincent Chan

The rescue

'There are still three workers unaccounted for and we are still conducting a search for them. Our dogs were used and our Dart team was also deployed.

'In fact, we are prepared to work until tomorrow, making use of good daylight. Tomorrow evening, if we can't find anything, we will move in the heavy equipment to remove the rubble piece by piece and, hopefully, we can retrieve the bodies after the removal of the rubble.'
- Singapore Civil Defence Force Commissioner James Tan

Longer journeys, delays ahead as traffic is diverted

Inconvenience could last six to nine months, says LTA

EVERY day, Miss Chin Su Leen, a business development manager, shuttles between her office in Raffles Place and The Concourse in Beach Road on business.

The five-minute taxi ride via Nicoll Highway costs her about $4.

But from today, she can expect to pay more, for a longer journey.

The closure of Nicoll Highway, which links areas in the east like Bedok and Marine Parade to the city, means motorists will have to look for alternative routes.

Miss Chin said: 'The taxi will now have to take a big loop past Swissotel The Stamford. Because of the road closure, there will probably be heavy traffic along the other roads as well, so it is going to be very inconvenient.'

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the closure of Nicoll Highway, built in the 1950s and possibly the oldest highway here, will displace an unprecedented volume of traffic.

Peak-hour traffic - between 8.15am and 9.15am - along the six-lane highway is 2,500 vehicles an hour in each direction.

This makes it one of the busiest non-expressway roads in Singapore. And the inconvenience could last six to nine months said LTA director of projects Rajan Krishnan.

The repair bill is also going to be 'substantial'. The massive effort will also include checking all the other parts of the Circle Line under construction for 'tell-tale signs'.

'So far, we've found that all the surrounding buildings are very safe,' he said, although he added that the possibility of further soil movement exists.

'When something collapses, the whole thing is unstable,' he said, explaining that it will be a 'delicate and long drawn out' reconstruction process.

To bypass the area, LTA says east-bound motorists can use the East Coast Parkway (ECP) or Stamford Road. Another option is to head for Beach Road using Fullerton Road.

City-bound motorists can use either the ECP or Mountbatten Road to Victoria Street via Kallang Road.

Because of the forced diversion, the Electronic Road Pricing charge for motorists when they drive past the Kallang Road gantry during morning rush hour on weekdays will be lifted.

The normal charge for car drivers is $0.50 from 8.30am to 9.30am.

Public transport commuters will also be affected by the road closure.

SBS Transit said bus services 10, 14, 16, 70 and 196 would now ply Kallang Road, Jalan Sultan, Beach Road and Bras Basah Road before resuming their normal routes.

Tibs said Singapore Shuttle Bus service 608 would use Kallang Road, Crawford Street, Beach Road and Bras Basah Road instead of Nicoll Highway.

Apart from the inconvenience, Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, who was at the scene yesterday, said the incident would mean a delay to the Circle Line MRT project, which was to have been completed by 2010. He did not give a new time frame.

Said Mr Yeo: 'LTA will do its utmost to repair the damage and the rest of the Circle Line project will continue. Much of the work is tunnelling and it's a very well-proven method and should not have an impact on pace of work in other parts of the island.'



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STORIES BY David Boey, Tanya Fong, Goh Chin Lian, Serene Goh, Karamjit Kaur, Lynn Lee, Arti Mulchand, Christopher Tan and KC Vijayan


PICTURES BY Joyce Fang, Lau Fook Kong, Lee Chee Chew, Albert Sim, Enrique Soriano, Terence Tan, Wang Hui Fen, Desmond Wee, Wong Kwai Chow and Stephanie Yeow

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Longer journeys, delays ahead as traffic is diverted

Inconvenience could last six to nine months, says LTA

EVERY day, Miss Chin Su Leen, a business development manager, shuttles between her office in Raffles Place and The Concourse in Beach Road on business.

The five-minute taxi ride via Nicoll Highway costs her about $4.

But from today, she can expect to pay more, for a longer journey.

The closure of Nicoll Highway, which links areas in the east like Bedok and Marine Parade to the city, means motorists will have to look for alternative routes.

Miss Chin said: 'The taxi will now have to take a big loop past Swissotel The Stamford. Because of the road closure, there will probably be heavy traffic along the other roads as well, so it is going to be very inconvenient.'

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the closure of Nicoll Highway, built in the 1950s and possibly the oldest highway here, will displace an unprecedented volume of traffic.

Peak-hour traffic - between 8.15am and 9.15am - along the six-lane highway is 2,500 vehicles an hour in each direction.

This makes it one of the busiest non-expressway roads in Singapore. And the inconvenience could last six to nine months said LTA director of projects Rajan Krishnan.

The repair bill is also going to be 'substantial'. The massive effort will also include checking all the other parts of the Circle Line under construction for 'tell-tale signs'.

'So far, we've found that all the surrounding buildings are very safe,' he said, although he added that the possibility of further soil movement exists.

'When something collapses, the whole thing is unstable,' he said, explaining that it will be a 'delicate and long drawn out' reconstruction process.

To bypass the area, LTA says east-bound motorists can use the East Coast Parkway (ECP) or Stamford Road. Another option is to head for Beach Road using Fullerton Road.

City-bound motorists can use either the ECP or Mountbatten Road to Victoria Street via Kallang Road.

Because of the forced diversion, the Electronic Road Pricing charge for motorists when they drive past the Kallang Road gantry during morning rush hour on weekdays will be lifted.

The normal charge for car drivers is $0.50 from 8.30am to 9.30am.

Public transport commuters will also be affected by the road closure.

SBS Transit said bus services 10, 14, 16, 70 and 196 would now ply Kallang Road, Jalan Sultan, Beach Road and Bras Basah Road before resuming their normal routes.

Tibs said Singapore Shuttle Bus service 608 would use Kallang Road, Crawford Street, Beach Road and Bras Basah Road instead of Nicoll Highway.

Apart from the inconvenience, Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, who was at the scene yesterday, said the incident would mean a delay to the Circle Line MRT project, which was to have been completed by 2010. He did not give a new time frame.

Said Mr Yeo: 'LTA will do its utmost to repair the damage and the rest of the Circle Line project will continue. Much of the work is tunnelling and it's a very well-proven method and should not have an impact on pace of work in other parts of the island.'



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STORIES BY David Boey, Tanya Fong, Goh Chin Lian, Serene Goh, Karamjit Kaur, Lynn Lee, Arti Mulchand, Christopher Tan and KC Vijayan


PICTURES BY Joyce Fang, Lau Fook Kong, Lee Chee Chew, Albert Sim, Enrique Soriano, Terence Tan, Wang Hui Fen, Desmond Wee, Wong Kwai Chow and Stephanie Yeow

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Fortunately it's the holidays now if not I will be affected as the bus I took to school uses Nicoll Highway.....

APRIL 22, 2004
SCDF men find a second body

LTA sets up inquiry into Nicoll Highway collapse; search continues but hopesfade for two Singaporeans still missing

By Tan Hsueh Yun

A SECOND body was pulled out of the Nicoll Highway cave-in late last night, hours after Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong reminded all concerned that the priority was to find the missing men, not point fingers.

Now is not the time to talk about who is to blame for Tuesday's disaster or about compensation.

The priority is to find the men not accounted for and to control the damage there, he said after visiting the devastated Circle Line construction site yesterday evening.

He vowed that the Government would find out the cause.

'This thing has happened,' he said. 'We will get to the bottom of it.'

At 11.42 last night, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) rescuers brought up the second body from the disaster site.

The body could not be identified immediately but from the clothes he wore, SCDF commissioner James Tan said that it was probably that of a missing China national. The other two missing men are Singaporeans.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has formed a panel to investigate the cause, headed by LTA board member Yong Kwet Yew, professor of civil engineering and vice-president of the National University of Singapore.

The Government may set up an independent inquiry, said Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, probably headed by a magistrate.

Efforts to find the missing men continued through Tuesday night.

In the early hours of yesterday morning, all work came to a halt. Lights, generators and all machines were switched off while rescuers used a life detection device to pick up even the slightest sound or movement from under the rubble and mud.

No sign of life was detected and sniffer dogs were brought back in for the search.

Above ground at rush hour, traffic snarls in Geylang and Kallang and tailbacks on the East Coast Parkway were the norm as drivers scrambled to find alternative routes. Nicoll Highway may be closed for six to nine months.

Close by, the vigil continued at the Kampong Glam Community Club, where relatives of the missing waited.

Mr Goh expressed his sympathy for the family members during his visit to the site with Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng and Mr Yeo.

Standing at the edge of the huge wound in the earth, he was briefed by the SCDF chief and LTA officials.

It was a major accident and while relieved that the number of casualties was lower than it might have been, he said 'a casualty is a casualty'.

The priority was to find the missing men and, if they had perished, do the best to recover the bodies.

'But looking at the site and the extent of the collapse of the road, the tunnel, I was told that this is a very complex and delicate task,' he said.

Praising the authorities' quick reaction to 'a complex situation', Mr Goh said: 'I would say that they have done a very good job in coordinating, in responding to a crisis.

'That's what is important, because what has happened has happened. But how you respond to a crisis is a further mark of our ability to cope with disasters.'

He said that he had been in the Members' Room in Parliament on Tuesday afternoon when somebody said Nicoll Highway had collapsed.

He turned to the TV but could not get a sense of the scale of the accident, so he had Mr Wong and Mr Yeo go there to size up the situation and keep him updated.

But even as Mr Goh assured Singaporeans that answers would be found, he made it plain that this was not the time to say who was at fault, take action against anyone or discuss compensation.

His own reaction, he said, had not been to ask first who was to blame.

'My first question was: Are there lives lost? Where are they? How can we save them? How do we control damage to prevent further losses?'

Compensation will be dealt with at a more appropriate time, he said. 'I know this interests many people but when there's a crisis, you must know what steps to take. I would not expect the engineers and the Civil Defence to come here to worry about suing others and compensation.

'No. The immediate task is to rescue people who are trapped, and then to plan the next step and control the damage,' he added.

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LISTENING FOR LIFE: Civil defence rescue personnel use a life detector - a device that can pick up minute sounds - to try to pick up signs of life. -- ENRIQUE SORIANO

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PM'S REACTION AT THE SCENE: 'It's one of shock that this thing has happened but the other feeling is one of relief, that (it was) such a major accident and the casualties were small.' - PM Goh at the site with Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong -- JOYCE FANG

It happened without warning: LTA

Loud sounds heard only minutes before cave-in, it maintains

By Christopher Tan

LOUD cracking and rumbling sounds were heard by some workers at the Nicoll Highway MRT worksite just minutes before everything imploded on Tuesday afternoon.

At a press briefing yesterday, Land Transport Authority (LTA) director of projects, Mr Rajan Krishnan, said that those were the only signs that something was amiss before disaster struck.

Maintaining that there had been no earlier warning, he told The Straits Times: 'If we had any indication, we would definitely have done something. It all happened very suddenly.'

But at least one person sensed otherwise.

At about 9am on Tuesday, a foreman at Kori Construction decided to pull some workers from an excavation pit because of strange noises coming from the steel supports there.

The workers left the tunnel an hour later.

One of the workers, who only wanted to be known as Mr Fong, said that his foreman told them that the area was 'not safe' before ordering them out.

Mr Rajan, however, did say that conditions at the site of the cave-in were especially difficult.

It was among the deepest open-excavation tunnels, going over 30m down, was dug on reclaimed land sitting on gooey marine clay, and just 100m from a water body.

He said that the tunnel-boring method, which is less disruptive to surrounding soil, was used to complete tunnels under the nearby Kallang River.

But that method could not be used at the Nicoll Highway section because tunnels criss-crossed one another there, so there was no alternative to the open method used.

Also yesterday, LTA deputy chief executive T.S. Low, a public works veteran, said the main contractor for the section that collapsed, Japanese civil engineering firm Nishimatsu, had a good track record.

Nishimatsu, which has teamed up with homegrown construction firm Lum Chang for major contracts since the 1980s, had appointed subcontractors to build the supporting walls which gave way before the cave-in.

The LTA said yesterday that its top priority was to stabilise the site.

Concrete was poured into surrounding cracks, and everything from sophisticated machines and canvas sheets were brought in to do the job.

Also in use: Machines which can measure any soil movement.

This is important because any sign that the ground had shifted sideways or sunk any deeper could mean that soil would slide towards the crater left by the incident.

Surveyors are taking readings every few hours from the machines, which are placed within a 30m radius of the site.

Much less sophisticated, but just as important, are canvas sheets that have been placed along slopes in the area.

These sheets will prevent soil movement, especially when it rains.

The LTA has also mobilised, for the first time, its crisis management group, with 337 people working in two shifts.

Experts contacted by The Straits Times said residents of nearby buildings can look out for danger signs, such as new cracks in walls, or if existing cracks have widened.

Water seeping through a building's basement walls would be another sign of something amiss, they said.

'Please, tell us if you had seen my dad'

LTA engineer is missing since the Nicoll Highway cave-in. Daughter appeals for any info that may lead to his rescue

By Tanya Fong

FOR hours, Miss Catherine Tan prayed for news of her father, Land Transport Authority (LTA) engineer Tan Lock Yong, one of those being sought at the site of the Nicoll Highway cave-in.

Then, at 2.15am yesterday, she appealed through the media for anyone who had seen him just before the collapse to come forward with information to help rescuers find him.

Through her sobs, she pleaded: 'Time is very crucial. Anyone who saw my father near the time of the incident, please tell us.'

She was at the Kampong Glam Community Club, which is being used as a holding area for relatives of the missing men, a few hundred metres from the site.

Anyone who has information on Mr Tan may call the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) hotline 1800-286-5555 or the LTA hotline 1800-225-5582.

Miss Tan, 29, a social worker with the Singapore After-Care Association, said the family called him repeatedly on his mobile phone on hearing of the cave-in, but the phone wasn't on.

'He never switches off his mobile phone,' she said.

They were last together on Sunday, when he showed her how to use a telescope he had just bought. 'He was into stargazing. It was his new hobby, and he called the telescope his only luxury item,' she said.

Her father, she said, is a hardworking family man who stinted on himself and splurged on his family. He paid for her drama and psychology course at Monash University in Melbourne, but 'wouldn't buy new shoes for himself until the soles fell off the old ones', she said.

'He always told us to follow our hearts and happiness will follow.

'Even when my younger brother Raymund chose to study interactive media design, which is not typical for a boy, he was all for it,' she said. Raymund, 24, has just completed national service.

When their father was in his 20s, said Miss Tan, he went to the United States to study the technology to run a fish farm, but dropped the idea on his return because he was afraid it wouldn't succeed. He put himself through night school, got a diploma in civil engineering, and worked his way up. He's worked in LTA for more than 20 years.

Two years ago, he completed work at the North-East Line's Kovan station and was transferred to this site, his last project before retirement.

His contract is due to end this year and the family had planned to emigrate to New Zealand or Australia.

Her 56-year-old father lives simply and likes it that way, she said.

'Shortly after we moved from Ang Mo Kio to Pasir Ris 15 years ago, he bought us all bicycles and we would cycle to dinner, stock up on groceries and cycle home,' she said.

Her mother was the last in the family to see him, she said. 'She told me he had been crying in his sleep on Tuesday morning... he told her he dreamt he had been bitten by an animal. She was shocked, because my father hardly ever dreams, and it's the first time he had cried in his dreams.'

For the rest of the day, the family were deep in prayer as they kept vigil in the Kampong Glam CC, accompanied by counsellors. Two TV sets and a radio kept them abreast of the news and every six hours, fresh supplies of food and drinks were brought in. Fresh blankets and pillows were brought in last night.

The missing man's wife feels her husband is still alive, said his brother, Mr Tan Beng Wah, in his late 50s. 'We are keeping our hopes alive, and are praying very hard.'

Senior Minister of State (Law and Home Affairs) Ho Peng Kee said yesterday when he visited the site: 'SCDF is concentrating on search and rescue, which is our immediate priority, and other agencies are ... ensuring surrounding buildings are safe.

'We should not lose hope. My message for the next of kin and all those who care for the casualties is that we should believe, our efforts should continue. And those who believe in spiritual faith will pray that the casualties will come out alive.'

On Tuesday night, Miss Tan twice sent this SMS to her father's mobile phone: 'Dad, please come home. Where are you? I love you. Mum, brother and me are waiting for you right now. Come back. We miss you.'

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One of the three missing at the Nicoll Highway cave-in site is LTA engineer Tan Lock Yong, 56. He was transferred to the Circle Line site two years ago - it was to be his last project before retirement. -- BRYAN VAN DER BEEK

Delicate search for the missing

Chinese national's body is recovered after a 30-hour search by rescuers, dogs

AT 1.20AM yesterday, rescuers had cut the floodlights, shut down the generators and waited in silence.

Standing in a crevice between giant slabs of concrete under the collapsed boom of a crane, two sergeants listened to headphones plugged into a life detection device.

It would pick up the slightest movement, if any, from the three men trapped under the rubble.

Ten minutes later, the floodlights came back on and the generators started humming again.

The rescuers had failed to find any sign of life.

The sniffer dogs were brought back in again, for the fifth time.

It was hoped the device would be the turning point in the search for the men, nearly 10 hours after the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction site collapsed, bringing down with it a 100m stretch of Nicoll Highway behind the Golden Mile Complex.

At least 20 workers were at their teabreak at about 3.30pm on Tuesday when a temporary support wall collapsed, and the whole area around it caved in.

Those closer to the worksite fled for their lives.

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) personnel arrived about 10 minutes later to a gaping hole strewn with twisted metal, slabs of concrete and construction vehicles.

The workers knew then that at least one man, a 45-year-old crane operator, had not escaped in time. Some had seen Mr Vadivil Nadason going down with his crane.

A head count was frantically done, and three others could not be accounted for.

One was Mr Heng Yeow Peow, 40, a foreman for high-beam specialist Kori Construction. Some workers had seen him go back to the worksite to help others after it collapsed but he did not reappear.

Also missing were Mr Tan Lock Yong, 56, a Land Transport Authority (LTA) engineer and a Chinese national whom the authorities declined to name.

Workers told rescue personnel that they could be in or near an office container.

After a review of the situation, the SCDF's disaster and rescue team swung into action.

They found the container submerged in water and mud, under a concrete slab.

The road collapse had destroyed a drain leading from the Kallang Basin, and water gushed in as the tide rose.

Men from LTA stemmed the leak with sandbags and cement bags. As water receded, the container came into sight.

Cutting a hole into it, rescuers found no one inside. But at 6.15pm, they discovered the body of the crane operator in the water close to it.

The second body would not be found for another 30 hours.

Another container, however, was found wedged beneath the first one. The LTA told them it had been used for construction equipment.

But it was tipped on one end and deep in mud. As darkness fell, workers moved fast to cut a hole in the side.

Finding it filled close to the brim with water, they stuck long poles inside to feel around but found only a bow cutter.

Other rescue efforts were focused around the area where the 31m-deep Circle Line tunnel was being built, but searchers could go only 10m to 15m deep because of the debris.

As distraught relatives arrived to keep vigil in the nearby Kampong Glam Community Club, rescuers kept up the search all night.

Every two hours, 30 people armed with flashlights and three sniffer dogs would take turns to comb through the rubble.

The collapsed metal beams creaked ominously every now and then, and concrete slabs moved as the tide rose in the night, washing the soil beneath.

Deciding the situation was too risky, LTA engineers and civil defence officials worked out plans overnight to stabilise the site.

As day broke, the LTA sent in cement mixers to pour concrete into gaps to stop the soil from moving about.

The priority remained the same as the day before: to find the missing men. Fresh legs arrived in the form of 50 new rescuers and three new dogs.

Yesterday's search would involve 162 SCDF people, from 75 the previous day.

Daylight brought both hope and fear to the families of the missing men.

The light would make it easier to spot them, but their chances dimmed as more time passed.

Having waited all night in vain, the families now asked to see the disaster area.

They were brought to it for 10 minutes. Two women were so overcome they had to be helped into SCDF vans.

Back at the community centre, they waited all day again fruitlessly as the search continued and plans were made to cut the debris up and lift it out piece by piece with a crane.

The cut-and-lift method would allow rescuers to reach further into the rubble but could crush bodies beneath as debris is moved around.

The tension rose at about 9pm when rescue efforts intensified at one location.

Then, at 11.45pm, a second body was brought up from the twisted wreckage.

The body of the Chinese national had been found 10m to 15m from the first body, pinned underwater by a truck.

For his family, tension will now give way to grieving.

But for the others, it would be a second night of waiting.

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'You have the slabs slanting at an angle and the high beams at another, everything resting on one another. A slight movement in any part would have an impact on the rest. If anything falls, there's no way to escape.' - Captain Alan Toh, Commanding Officer at Central Fire Station, who is part of the rescue effort

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The road collapse destroyed a drain resulting in water gushing in as the tide rose. The leak was stemmed with sandbags.

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Constant checks to make sure nearby buildings sound

IN THE dark basement carpark that Golden Mile Tower and Complex share, lenses of sophisticated machines are trained on the ground.

These machines measure the movement of soil, and have been placed at various points in buildings within a 30m radius of the cave-in of Nicoll Highway.

They are part of the many safety checks that workers from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) are carrying out in the area to ensure that the structures of buildings near Tuesday's incident and their surrounding areas are safe.

When The Straits Times spoke to two surveyors recording readings from the machines at noon yesterday, they said they were checking to see if the ground had shifted sideways or sunk any deeper.

The worry is that the soil in the area could slide towards the crater left behind by Tuesday's collapse.

They declined to reveal who they were working for and would only say they were collecting data every three hours.

A BCA spokesman said that it has investigated nearby The Concourse, too, for potential effects of the incident, but has since discounted that it would be affected.

Experts whom The Straits Times spoke to said the Golden Mile Tower and Complex could be affected.

An independent surveyor from CC Building Surveyors, Mr Crispin Cassimir, said the most immediate concern is that any movement in the ground could cause underground sewer, gas and water pipes - all buried at different levels - to fracture.

'The big question is when the soil will stop settling,' he said. 'It could stop after three months or six years.'

He added that any shifts would more likely affect the areas around a building first rather than the building itself.

Residents, shopkeepers and shoppers at the Golden Mile Tower and Complex who spoke to The Straits Times were generally unaware about the concerns for their safety and, therefore, had not made any contingency plans.

The buildings' manager, Mr Mark Singh, told The Straits Times that the BCA had cancelled a scheduled briefing yesterday afternoon to update him.

'I suppose they're not ready yet to tell us how investigations are coming along,' he said. 'But how can we take safety measures if they haven't told us anything?'

Construction consultant and former chief of the Construction Industry Development Board (now the BCA), Mr Chow Kok Fong, said that while it is 'inevitable' that some damage to the buildings has occurred even with the best precautions, the concern now is whether any further damage will injure people.

Hence, the constant checks.

The more than 20 business operators, residents, visitors and shopkeepers in both buildings whom The Straits Times spoke to seemed unperturbed.

Accountant Tan Ching Siew, 58, whose office is on the Complex's 11th storey, went in to work yesterday as normal. Restaurant Golden Mile Thien Kee Steamboat's owner Richard Foo, 47, said he had not noticed any dip in the number of his customers.

Only the 'older folks' are talking about Tuesday's cave-in and speculating about what would happen next, he added.

The 20,000 sq ft supermarket and department store Thai Mart and the one-unit Chuleeporn Beauty Salon, were open yesterday. Both said business was unaffected.

But Madam Chan Mei Foong, 50, was anxious. The woman, who lives in the Complex and has a shop there, said she would give it all up and move out if she has to.

'After all, it's safety first.'

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Any shift in ground levels are being measured (above) at buildings within a 30m radius of the cave-in. Concrete is also being poured into the cave-in perimeter to stabilise the land.

Steps to make collapsed site stable

STABILISING the area around the collapsed work site is now the top priority of the Land Transport Authority (LTA), and several steps have been taken to do this.

Canvas sheets have gone up on the slopes along Nicoll Highway, up to Merdeka Bridge, to prevent further soil movement, especially when it rains.

Two points of an outlet drain which flows into Kallang River have also been blocked with sandbags and cement bags to keep water out during high tide. And cement grout, a material to make soil less permeable, is being pumped into the main cracks on the road to keep rain out.

Concrete is also being poured into the perimeter of the collapsed area to fill voids and gaps inside the rubble to stabilise the land, though this has to be done carefully to prevent seepage where search and rescue operations are going on.

Mr Rajan Krishnan, LTA director of projects, said: 'We have to move cautiously... What we don't want is a second incident. Further movement is possible and we are trying to stem that,' he said.

LTA is now assessing how to approach excavation work. It has to remove the debris, build new concrete walls and maybe add additional protective walls, he said.

Buildings around the site have also been checked for damage and survey markers have been mounted at the Golden Mile Complex, Merdeka Bridge and Crawford Underpass. Regular readings are taken from the markers relative to a faraway building which is on stable ground. These readings will show if the structures are sinking or moving.

'They have deep, strong foundations and are unlikely to be affected, but we have to be prudent,' said Mr Rajan.

Saved by foreman's sixth sense

Man says supervisor ordered his group of workers out of pit after hearing strange noises hours before tragedy

AT LEAST one group of construction workers at the Circle Line worksite on Nicoll Highway sensed all was not well hours before the fatal cave-in.

A worker for Kori Construction, who wanted to be known only as Mr Fong, said he and about five other workers were instructed by their foreman to leave the excavation pit just after 9am, when they started work.

The foreman, whose name he does not know, felt that it 'was not safe' after they heard strange noises coming from the steel struts, or horizontal steel beams that hold the concrete diaphragm walls apart.

Speaking in Mandarin, the 44-year-old Singaporean said: 'It sounded like metal breaking, like firecrackers. And it didn't stop. The foreman told us to stop work and leave.'

He and his colleagues left the tunnel an hour later, and waited nearby, drinking tea.

He does not know if other workers on the site may have been warned about the danger his foreman had sensed.

However, a senior executive from the Land Transport Authority said he was unaware of any such warning and, during a press conference yesterday, maintained that the only indication of trouble came 10 to 15 minutes before the collapse, when the workers heard cracking sounds and began evacuating.

According to Mr Fong, when a cement mixer arrived at about 2pm, a group of Thai construction workers went into the pit and used cement in an attempt to stabilise the structure.

Then, at 3.30pm, disaster struck.

'We heard the metal structure giving way, and the workers in the tunnel used their walkie-talkies to inform everyone that the soil was giving way in the tunnel.

'Within a second or two, I heard a sound and felt the ground shake. I ran for my life, and when I turned back I saw the cranes and other heavy construction equipment being swallowed up by the earth. It was like a movie,' he recalled.

The collapse killed two men and two others are missing. Three workers were also injured in the incident, but suffered minor injuries.

Many other workers who were as lucky as Mr Fong escaped death and injury because they were on a tea break at a pavilion along Raffles Boulevard, about 50m from Nicoll Highway.

A grateful Mr Fong, an odd-job labourer who has spent four years doing construction work, went to a Chinese temple near Jalan Bukit Merah yesterday to offer thanks.

He said: 'I am just so relieved.'

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LET'S FOCUS ON RESCUE EFFORTS: PM -- 'To the families of the missing, I extend to them my sincere condolences. This thing has happened, we will get to the bottom of it, how it happened, probably there will be a public inquiry as to the cause of the collapse of the wall of the Circle Line. But for the time being, the immediate task is to see whether we can rescue those who are missing.' - Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (left), visiting the site with Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng (centre) and Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong (second from right)

Cruel blow

Man loses third sibling in 3 years; funeral for crane operator today

THREE siblings lost in the space of three years - this is the cruel blow fate has dealt Mr Muniandy Nadason, 48, a Malaysian building maintenance supervisor.

In 2001, his eldest sister, who was in her 60s, died after a long illness. A year later, his youngest brother, 30, was killed in a motorcycle accident.

On Tuesday, his 42-year-old brother, Mr Vadivil Nadason, a crane operator, died at the Circle Line MRT construction site in Nicoll Highway when the road caved in.

Mr Vadivil, the father of five daughters aged five to 17, was found near his crane at 6.15pm on Tuesday.

Mr Muniandy, who works at Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2, rushed to the site on hearing the news as he knew his brother, the fifth of nine children, was working there.

He arrived at about 4pm but nobody could tell him if his brother was alive or not.

Speaking to reporters at the Health Sciences Authority's mortuary yesterday, Mr Muniandy recalled: 'I kept asking the police officers, 'Where's my brother?' and I tried to enter the site... but was stopped.'

At 6.30pm, when Mr Vadivil's body was found, his brother collapsed on the ground and sobbed.

Mr Muniandy said yesterday that their father had died more than 30 years ago while their mother died seven years ago. His remaining siblings are five sisters aged 30 to 55.

The brothers commemorated the anniversary of their parents' deaths last month and were planning a Labour Day trip to Kedah to visit their ailing 55-year-old sister.

They spoke on the telephone almost every day and the Kedah trip was planned during one of those conversations. Said Mr Muniandy: 'My sister is in poor health. So we were planning to visit her. But now...'

Mr Vadivil's family, who lives in Taman Johor Jaya in Johor Baru, have decided to have the funeral there today, according to Hindu custom. Tiong Woon Crane & Transport is helping with the arrangements and will pay all expenses.

While the family was stunned by Mr Vadivil's death, they were relieved that his body was recovered, Mr Muniandy said.

'His death was fated,' he said quietly. 'I may have lost a brother, but I'm glad that we have his body, so we can prepare for his funeral. I feel sorry for the families who are going through the torture of waiting for news.'

One of Mr Vadivil's colleagues at Tiong Woon said it was believed he had drowned in the water that gushed into the site when a temporary dam gave way.

The colleague said he had asked Mr Vadivil on his mobile phone at around 2.55pm to accompany him to the site canteen for a snack and a cup of tea. But Mr Vadivil said he was busy and asked him to buy him some bread and tea instead.

He said he heard a loud sound like an explosion at 3.30pm and made repeated calls to Mr Vadivil's mobile phone when he saw that the crane had plunged into the hole. There was no reply.

Mr Muniandy said his brother had been working as a crane operator in Singapore since 1981.

He was retrenched in 2000 but joined Tiong Woon last year and earned about $2,000 a month.

His wife, S. Parameswary, 40, began working only recently in a shopping centre in Johor Baru.

Mr Muniandy described his brother as a family man and a diligent employee.

He said: 'He started work at 8am and would knock off as late as 11pm. Yet, he made it a point to return to Johor Baru every day. The next morning, he'd wake up at 5am, have his breakfast and ride his motorbike to work.'

Due to his tight working schedule, Mr Vadivil had no hobbies, preferring to spend his free time with his family, his brother said.

'He'd work seven days a week. When the company had no projects and he wasn't working, he'd take his family on outings.'

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Family members grieve for Mr Vadivil, whose funeral will be held today in Taman Johor Jaya in Johor Baru. He leaves behind a wife and five daughters. -- THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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A diligent man, Mr Vadivil would work seven days a week.

He crawled out and ran for his life

A PANIC-STRICKEN Thai worker who crawled out from under the rubble after a part of Nicoll Highway collapsed on Tuesday ran about a kilometre before colleagues managed to catch up with him.

Mr Somkhuan Norinthong, 21, from Nongkai province in north-east Thailand, had been working in Singapore for only a year when the accident occurred.

According to The New Paper, he was doing some cementing work underground when the road caved in.

Covered in blood and dust, he ran for dear life and didn't stop till he was well clear of the disaster site. Less than 10 minutes later, an ambulance took him to the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

He arrived at SGH's accident and emergency department at 4.15pm with a fractured cheek bone, cuts above the eyebrows and minor bruises and scratches all over his body. He is still under observation, an SGH spokesman said yesterday, and his condition is stable.

Mr Somthawee Kopatthanasilp, minister-counsellor (labour) at the Thai Embassy who visited the injured man yesterday morning, told The Straits Times: 'He's getting well and the hospital is taking good care of him.' Mr Somkhuan's family has been informed of the accident, added Mr Somthawee. He is single.

On Tuesday, two injured workers were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. One was a 25-year-old Indian national, while the other was a 47-year-old Singaporean man. Both had leg injuries and have since been discharged.

Meanwhile, the search continues for the two missing workers, after the body of the Chinese national was found at about 11.45pm yesterday.

Among the missing is Singaporean Heng Yeow Peow, a 40-year-old foreman.

Media reports said Mr Heng crawled out of the debris but headed back to the site to rescue his trapped colleagues - eight in all.

Mr Heng is married with two children, aged eight and 10.

Mr Sei Chi Chiga, general manager of Kori Construction where Mr Heng works, told The Straits Times: 'Mr Heng was doing shoring work at the site when the collapse happened.

'He was the last to leave after asking the rest of the workers to get out.'

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A friend attends to Mr Somkhuan who suffered a fractured cheek bone and cuts and bruises all over. -- THE NEW PAPER

Detours cause traffic to slow to a crawl

TRAFFIC crawled on East Coast Parkway (ECP) and roads in Geylang and Kallang during rush hour yesterday morning as vehicles that usually use Nicoll Highway were forced to make detours.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said although there were periods of traffic congestion from time to time on these roads between 8am and 10am yesterday, there were no major jams then or later in the evening. It added that it had been monitoring the situation and adjusting traffic signals on the affected roads.

Electronic road pricing (ERP) charges have been waived at the entry to the ECP from Kallang Road, 'as this is an unforeseen situation and motorists have to take this road', said LTA's chief executive, Mr Ho Meng Kit.

But there will be no waiver of ERP charges at other gantries as the LTA does not want to encourage more people to drive into the city and worsen the situation, he said.

Seven bus services - SBS Transit's services 10, 14, 16, 70, 196 and 401, and Singapore Shuttle Bus' service 608 - have been diverted, and both operators have put up notices at bus-stops and interchanges to inform commuters. SBS has also put nine more buses on the road in the affected area.

Despite these efforts, some motorists and commuters still had to spend more time and money on the road yesterday morning.

Trader Adrian Lee, 30, reached his office at Raffles Place 15 minutes late for work because the bus journey from his home in Mountbatten Road had taken about 40 minutes, twice the usual time.

He said: 'I take the bus because it used to take me about the same time if I drove. But if this continues, I may consider driving.'

Ms Serene Tan, 34, and her husband left their Tanjong Rhu home at 8.20am, about half an hour earlier than usual.

They had to pay an extra $1.50 in ERP charges to get into ECP from Fort Road, on top of $2.50 for access into the city.

She said: 'The traffic jam wasn't as bad as I expected.

'But we'll have to leave early every day now, and we'll also have to pay a bit more.'

Non-profit organisation Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga Centre has also had to alter transport arrangements for a free mass meditation session it is holding at the Indoor Stadium today, which more than 7,000 people are expected to attend.

The centre has increased the number of shuttle buses plying between Kallang MRT station and the stadium from 12 to 20, and has added four buses to bring in commuters from Mountbatten Road.

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Road diversions have been set up to keep traffic out of the Nicoll Highway area, like this one which diverts traffic from Crawford Street to Beach Road.

Get to bottom of Nicoll Highway collapse

THE cause of the Nicoll Highway collapse must be found. Otherwise we would live in fear, not knowing which other Circle Line MRT stations now being built could be the next to cave in. Are safety standards adequate or enforced?

The Chua Chu Kang blackout before this caused a huge scare among those affected by the electricity disruption. How did the equipment failure come about? Now this Nicoll Highway incident. What if the highway had collapsed during peak hours?

I urge the authorities to restore confidence. Singaporeans are becoming jittery over these recent incidents.

DR LIM BOON HEE

APRIL 29, 2004
Hundreds bid farewell to foreman Hero Heng
By Crystal Chan

A MINIATURE casket with a fistful of soil inside was cremated at Mount Vernon yesterday in an emotional funeral for Mr Heng Yeow Peow.

The foreman who died while unselfishly urging his workers to safety in last Tuesday's collapse of an MRT construction still lies buried beneath the rubble.

Though bereft of the comfort of getting back his body, his family went on with the rites to lay him to rest.

The soil was collected at their request from the site where he was last seen alive.

Mr Heng, 40, who worked for Kori Construction, a sub-contractor for the MRT Circle Line project, was one of four men who died in the Nicoll Highway collapse. His body was the only one not found.

The massive cave-in was triggered when a temporary supporting wall for the MRT tunnel collapsed.

Hundreds of people attended his wake in the last few days and his funeral yesterday in Tampines Street 22.

Among them were strangers moved by his heroism to offer comfort to his widow and children. Many could not hold back their tears.

As monks chanted prayers, four buses arrived, carrying 250 co-workers who had come to say goodbye.

They had chipped in for a crystal trophy which was presented to his weeping widow, Sally, and children Daniel, 10, and Joann, eight, in memory of his bravery.

On it was inscribed: 'Specially dedicated to Daniel and Joann. Always remember the courage of your dad Hero Heng. From Kori survivors of Nicoll Highway tragedy 2004.'

Instead of escaping to safety when the beams of the tunnel began caving in, Mr Heng stayed back to make sure that his eight co-workers got out.

As she accepted the trophy, Mrs Heng sobbed: 'Your father was a hero. Don't cry, children, don't cry.'

Among the mourners were men who owed him their lives.

Said Mr Norinthong Somkhuan, 28: 'I'm sad to lose such a good foreman. I've been unable to sleep as I keep thinking of how he saved me.'

Senior executives from Kori and Nishimatsu Corporation, one of the main contractors for the Nicoll Highway project, also came to offer their condolences.

At 3pm, the cortege left for Mount Vernon Crematorium where the casket was cremated at 4.35pm.

The ashes will be placed at Man Fatt Lam Temple in Bedok Road, said Mrs Heng.

On Monday, the wife, son and daughter of Mr Tan Lok Yong, a Land Transport Authority site inspector who also died in the collapse, paid their respects to Mr Heng.

Said Mr Tan's daughter, Catherine, 29, a social worker: 'We came to offer our condolences as we've been through the same pain. Others don't understand how we feel.'

The other two victims were a Malaysian crane operator, Mr Vadivil Nadason, and a Chinese construction worker, Mr Liu Rongquan.

Donations have flowed in for the family. Mr Heng was the sole breadwinner.

So far, more than $30,000 has been collected through Tampines Changkat grassroots organisations, said the family's Member of Parliament, Miss Irene Ng.


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Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

APRIL 29, 2004
Govt sets up panel to probe tragedy

• Worries over soil movement in the area
• Body of LTA man is third to be found
• Part of Merdeka Bridge to be cut

By Carl Skadian

THE Government has named a three-man committee of inquiry to examine how Tuesday afternoon's Nicoll Highway collapse happened and recommend ways to prevent another such disaster.

The Manpower Ministry said that the panel, headed by senior district judge Richard Magnus, will also:

• Determine if there was negligence, including criminal liability, on the part of any person or parties;

• Bring to the attention of Acting Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen any observations or opinions related to the incident; and

• Submit a report of its proceedings, findings and recommendations.

The other two members are Associate Professor Teh Cee Ing, head of the division of geotechnical and transportation engineering at Nanyang Technological University, and Mr Lau Joo Ming, director of the Housing Board's building technology department.

The panel is separate from the one set up earlier by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

Over at the disaster site, a third body was brought up yesterday morning as continued ground movement and seepage caused great concern to the authorities.

The worry is that if this continues, the safety of buildings in the area, especially the nearby Golden Mile Complex, could be affected.

They have moved to stabilise the area further by sealing up as many gaps in the site as possible with concrete.

Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong yesterday stressed that the area is still safe, and said that the Building and Construction Authority was closely monitoring any movement on the ground and in the buildings.

He described the Golden Mile Complex as being 'most at risk' and, when asked if it might have to be evacuated, said: 'We hope we don't have to.'

Still, there was a contingency plan in place to evacuate the building if the Singapore Civil Defence Force and engineers made that call. So far, the buildings there are safe, he said.

He spoke to reporters after visiting the family of the last man still missing, Singaporean site foreman Heng Yeow Peow, 40, at Kampong Glam Community Club.

Pledging that the search operations would continue, he said: 'We must find his body. We owe it to the family.'

For the family of LTA site inspector John Tan Lock Yong, 56, yesterday brought a sad end to their long vigil when his body was found and raised.

Said his widow, Teresa, 56: 'I feel a very heavy burden lifted from my heart. I was anxious and worried, but kept my hopes up. Now that he has been found, we have closure. And we now know that he is in the arms of the Lord.'

Late in the day, the LTA announced that a section of the Merdeka Bridge, which is almost 50 years old, will have to be cut off so that the Crawford Underpass nearby can be opened.

Cutting the span of the bridge nearest the disaster site will ensure that no stress will be placed on it when the underpass is opened to allow motorists a quick route from the Beach Road area to Marina Square and beyond.

Also yesterday, the main contractors for the tunnelling works at the site, Nishimatsu-Lum Chang JV, announced that it would give $30,000 to the family of each man who died.

Lum Chang Holdings managing director David Lum said the payment is unconditional, and added: 'Nothing can really compensate them in terms of money, but this is something we can do for them right now to help tide them over this difficult period.'

For SCDF rescuers, a delicate mission fraught with danger

By Irene Hoe

SEARCH and rescue, they call it. But here it was hide and seek in a deadly jumble of concrete slabs and shifting soil and rubble under sagging steel struts and twisted I-beams that could collapse at any moment.

Hidden under this were men whom rescuers hoped to bring out alive.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force men who had toiled since Tuesday afternoon, did not want to find the three men, only to dismember their bodies.

Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) Commander Kadir Maideen, 39, explained: 'It's very delicate when you are working with a human body that's been underwater for 30 hours. It's bloated and stiff.'

Be very gentle, he had told his men. 'As you bring the person out, you must have your hands cradling the head and the body, so as to keep the body intact and not tear the skin,' he said.

The rescuers knew they could be buried alive if the unstable soil shifted the concrete slabs. That rain, high tides or seepage from the Kallang Basin could turn the waist-high slurry of mud and water into a watery grave.

They did not so much search as probe, explore, palpate, brush, graze, grope, fumble, touch and feel.

Twice, they had checked and found nothing around a 10-tonne tipper lorry that had fallen and wedged firmly, tilted, in the mud in the chasm.

For the third time, the separate teams went in. That is when the breakthrough came. p> As Dart platoon commander Ong Chee Wee, 29, felt his way underwater along the lorry's chassis, he felt a toe jutting out and began probing further.

He recalled: 'The body was stuck between the tyres and the mudguard. One guy approached from the front, another from behind. Two men worked under water.'

They scraped out the mud with their hands. 'At first, we freed the shoulders and ears, but part of the arm was too far in. Because the ground was mud-soft, we couldn't get a good foothold to use our equipment,' he said.

Another Dart platoon commander, Lieutenant Chew Keng Tok, 32, said: 'We brought down breathing apparatus and cutting equipment, and ropes to keep the lorry from sinking or sliding. We dared not cut anything.

'There was a crane above the truck, and on top of the crane was a concrete slab, the retaining structure.'

Said Maj Kadir: 'There was zero visibility, the body was submerged, the body had started to stiffen. We were working in waist-high water levels.'

'At any time, there were two men under water and three above, holding onto the body.' The teams rotated.

It took nearly six hours to bring up the body of Mr Liu Rong Quan, 36, a worker from Jiangsu, China.

Then at 11.45am yesterday, Staff Sargeant Hamdan Tahir, 32, and Warrant Officer Sharudin Hashim, 36, brought up the body of Mr John Tan Lock Yong, 56, a Land Transport Authority inspector of works.

His bloated body was stuck to the undercarriage of the same tipper truck. He was located at around 9.30am, but it would take another two hours to free his body.

Staff Sgt Hamdan told The Straits Times: 'I had been watching the news on television and I'd seen the families pleading for their loved ones to be safe. I kept that image in mind when I was working.'

President confident agencies are doing all possible

PRESIDENT S R Nathan visited the Nicoll Highway disaster site yesterday and came away with words of reassurance for those who might be shaken by what happened there.

'I know that the workers in various projects of a similar nature will also be anxious about this,' he told reporters after viewing the wreckage and being briefed.

'But I want them to know that everything is being done by all the agencies concerned to ensure that there is no such recurrence of this elsewhere.'

Still, he added, some tragedies are unexpected, just as nobody expected the cave-in at the Nicoll Highway MRT worksite.

Mr Nathan was accompanied by Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong and was briefed by Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) chief James Tan and Land Transport Authority officials.

He thought it fortuitous that there were no cars on the highway at the time of the collapse, and so few workers at the affected area.

'I think it was fortunate that the casualty numbers were so small on a main road like this, which even I regularly take, and at that time of the evening,' he said.

'I know it is no comfort to those who have lost kith and kin, but I think we should also take comfort from the fact that it could have been worse.'

He commended the SCDF for swinging into action immediately after the disaster occurred, saying the force had come a long way from the day in 1986, when Singapore was caught unawares by the collapse of the Hotel New World, which left 33 dead.

'I think we need to give a tribute to them and the whole team that has been tirelessly working since day one till today and will continue to do so,' he said.

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It could have been worse, said Mr Nathan, here with Mr Yeo and other officials.

Uncertain wait for family ends in sorrow

Wife and children of LTA inspector come to terms with his death as body is retrieved from site

IT WAS first grief, and then relief, for the family of Mr John Tan Lock Yong, 56, a site inspector with the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

After nearly two days of waiting, hoping and praying, they finally had news of him yesterday at 1pm.

His body was found at 11.45am, about 1.6m under muddy water between a tipper truck and a container.

His children, Catherine, 29, and Raymund, 24, had hoped against hope that he would be found alive, imagining him huddling in an air pocket under the rubble.

Both were fighting back tears when they arrived at the Singapore General Hospital morgue with their mother at about 2pm. They spent about half an hour there and were weeping uncontrollably when they emerged.

It was only when they were home in their five-room HDB flat in Pasir Ris that they felt a sense of closure.

More than 10 relatives were there, helping the family to prepare for the wake.

Speaking to The Straits Times in a calm and collected voice later in the afternoon at their home, Mrs Teresa Tan, 56, recalled what a loving husband and father Mr Tan had been.

She said: 'He was a family man and always had us as his first priority. He did the supermarket shopping and, being very health conscious, always made sure we had fruits at home.'

Daughter Catherine added: 'He didn't say 'I love you' but he showed it in his own quiet way like making time to talk to us about our aspirations and cooking for us. His signature dishes were char kway teow and fried beehoon.'

He was very proud of his children, often telling his close friends about them, said Mrs Tan.

Mr Tan joined the LTA as a site inspector in 1999, and worked on the construction of the Hougang and Kovan stations on the North-East Line.

He was posted to the Circle Line's Nicoll Highway site in February 2002.

Yesterday, the LTA said its management and staff were greatly saddened by his untimely death. In a statement, it said of Mr Tan: 'He was a responsible worker who was committed to his duties. With his work dedication and jovial personality, he had excellent working relationships with his supervisors and colleagues.'

Said LTA's chief executive, Mr Ho Meng Kit: 'I am very sad and sorry to learn of John's death. We have been keeping vigil and working closely with the rescue team in the hope of rescuing John and the others.

'We will continue to provide all support to his family members in this time of need.'

The widow said of her husband: 'Tenacity was his greatest gift. In all things he did, he would persevere until it was completed.

'If he encountered difficulties, he would be determined to overcome them.'

Mrs Tan said she had a premonition of where her husband was trapped - near the felled container - when she was taken to the accident site on Wednesday morning.

Mrs Tan said: 'I felt a throbbing in my heart. I knelt down and said a prayer and asked Ah John where he was.

'I had a strong feeling he was very near the fallen container.' She had asked the rescuers not to concrete that area until they found him.

She said: 'When I walked away from the site, I felt an indescribable sense of peace. I didn't give up hope. But I felt the anxiety in my heart slowly being lifted.'

Twenty-seven hours later, they learnt that the body had been found. Though grief-stricken, they were relieved that the ordeal was over.

However, that relief still seemed some way off for the family of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, 40, a foreman with Kori Construction, a sub-contractor on the project.

Of the four who were missing after Tuesday's accident, he is the only one who has not been found.

Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed, mayor of the Northeast Community Development Council and Aljunied GRC MP, and Ms Irene Ng, an MP for Tampines GRC, visited Mrs Heng yesterday afternoon at the Kampong Glam Community Club.

Ms Ng told reporters that Mrs Heng had visited the accident site again yesterday and was very distraught.

While there, she even called out her husband's name in desperation.

The couple have two children, aged eight and 10.

Ms Ng added that Mr Heng's elderly mother was also undergoing the agony of having to wait for news of her son.

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One of Mr John Tan Lock Yong's proudest moments, shared with wife Teresa and son Raymund (above), was when daughter Catherine graduated from Monash University four years ago.

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Yesterday, near noon, Mr Tan's body was found, beneath 1.6m of water and debris at the Nicool Highway cave-in site.

Slow, arduous task

Rescuers often forced to dig with their hands

FINDING the bodies at the Nicoll Highway accident site is one thing, retrieving them is another.

The rescuers are impeded by mud, debris and murky water in the 20m-deep crater formed by Tuesday's collapse of a tunnel and a 100m stretch of Nicoll Highway.

Their task is further complicated by two major concerns - keeping any body they find intact to make it easier to identify the dead person, and ensuring their own safety.

In the confined area of the crater, which is about 30m across, more than 30 men are sifting through the debris with mini-shovels.

But mostly, they are digging with their hands in waist-deep water, slowly removing concrete and rubble.

On the occasions when they have detected a body in deeper water, they have resorted to using special underwater breathing apparatus which has been adapted for situations like this from the gas masks used when fighting a fire.

Their efforts have yielded three bodies so far.

The latest, that of Mr John Tan Lock Yong, 56, an inspector of works for the Land Transport Authority, was brought up at about 11.45am yesterday.

It took more than two plodding hours of groping underwater, and slowly removing mud from under the body to lower it, before the rescuers could pull out the dead man. They had found him stuck to the undercarriage of a five-tonne tipper truck at about 9.30am.

Throughout, the training to distinguish flesh from other materials, even in the dark, of the two officers of the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) who recovered the body, Staff Sergeant Hamdan Tahir, 32, and Warrant Officer Sharudin Hashim, 36, was put to the test.

They persisted in trying again and again because the image of the dead man's family pleading for their loved one's safety haunted Staff Sgt Hamdan. They got lucky on their third try.

The truck, which is tilted and stuck solidly in the mud, had also pinned down the second body unearthed - that of Mr Liu Rongquan, a 36-year-old construction worker from Jiangsu, China and father of one.

Five men took six hours to complete the delicate operation, which had to be carried out in water so murky that nothing was visible.

All they could feel were his legs.

The position of his awkwardly wedged form called for two rescuers to work underwater, pushing away the mud from around his legs to lift his body, and another three to plough through more mud at the rear of the truck to dislodge the rest of his body.

Lieutenant Ong Chee Wee, 29, a platoon commander of a Dart team involved in the procedure, first touched the left toe of the then-unnamed man at 11.40pm on Wednesday.

He and Dart platoon commander Chew Keng Tok, 32, strapped on tanks of oxygen-rich air and plunged back into the murky depths to continue their search.

The two resurfaced when they heard creaking sounds, in case more underground beams were going to collapse, but resumed work when they confirmed conditions were stable. They finally managed to dislodge the body.

Lt Ong explained that the process had taken ages because 'we couldn't see and had to feel around'.

'We were looking for his head and even to move it 1cm was a slow process.'

Despite their painstaking efforts, the man's body could initially be identified only by what he was wearing - a green vest, belt and Land Transport Authority (LTA) polo T-shirt. He also had a locker key in his trouser pocket.

His Chinese passport was retrieved from his locker at the workers' quarters on the site, along with his work permit and several other documents.

Mr Liu had begun work on the Circle Line early this month.

The first body to be recovered was that of crane operator Vadivil Nadason, 42, a Malaysian who was a Singapore permanent resident, on Tuesday.

Rescuers are still combing the site for the last missing man, Mr Heng Yeow Peow, 40, a foreman for high-beam specialist Kori Construction.

Later in the day, the LTA started to pour quick-drying cement to fill up holes in the areas that have been searched to make the ground firmer, and the mayors of two community development councils, Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed and Mr Heng Chee How, had 300 packs of McDonald's meals delivered around 11pm yesterday to the rescue site.

The search then entered a particularly dangerous phase. The rescuers split into three groups of four men each, and each group is covering a sector, all of which are very close to each other.

Two groups are diving into cavities filled with muddy water, while the third is tunnelling.

They are having to work very, very slowly due to the 'clayey' nature of the soil and because steel bars are criss-crossing their path.

Said Singapore Civil Defence Force commissioner James Tan: 'Our assessment is that Mr Heng may have fallen to the bottom of the 30m-deep tunnel.

'But we can't pinpoint the location.'

He said Mr Heng's elder brother, who had seen him at about 11.15pm, also suspects Mr Heng is there and has asked the rescuers to 'try to introduce oxygen holes' into the tunnel so his brother has air to breathe.

'We need to find a gap to do that but we haven't found any yet,' said the commissioner, adding that moving the steel structures below ground would be dangerous.

'But morale is high and we'll go on looking.'

HELP ON THE GROUND: METHODS AND EQUIPMENT EMPLOYED TO SEARCH FOR BODIES

Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart)

• The Singapore Civil Defence's elite team was formed in 1993 to handle complex rescue and fire-fighting incidents.

• At the site, they work in two hours shifts under among fallen beams, displaced concrete slabs and rubble that can give way anytime because of the unstable soil conditions.

• They wear helmets with a headlamp, gloves and use mini-spades to scoop up the mud.

• They have to work under zero visibility where the water is cloudy and waist high. Two of them put on breathing apparatus with oxygen cylinders that last 40 minutes each to go underwater and remove the mud trapping the body of the Chinese national.

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Sniffer dogs

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• They must have stamina as they need to work for long periodsand under harsh conditions. The first set of three dogs were brought into the rubble for seven rounds in the first 15 hours, before fresh legs came in to replace them.

• They are trained to track the scent of a human being and taught to bark when they discover someone.

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Life detector

• The dedicated electronic listening for search and rescue (Deslar) life detector is able to detect the slightest movement and sound in the rubble.

• It consists of a 1.5kg battery-operated main unit that supports up to six seismic and acoustic sensors.

• The sensors are placed on the surface of the search area. All movement, floodlights and generators are stopped at the rescue site as the rescuers listen in for any sign of life with headphones.


TEXT: GOH CHIN LIAN
PHOTOS: CHEW SENG KIM

Cracking up

Carpark's cracked walls and cave-in are separate: LTA

IN THE ground level of a multi-storey carpark at The Plaza, a triangular structure made of wooden beams supports a cracked wall so that the second floor of the carpark does not collapse.

Since January, occupants of the residential-cum-office building near the Nicoll Highway cave-in site have been noticing cracks on the walls and floor of the four-storey carpark.

Every time the gaps are patched, new ones surface. To compound matters, the ground in the carpark is sinking.

A lawyer who works in the 31-storey building adjoining the carpark, Ms Ellen Lee, 47, said: 'At first, I noticed a 15cm crack on the floor at the entrance of the carpark, and then the ground started to sink. After the Nicoll Highway incident, I'm definitely concerned about the situation here.'

Other occupants are just as worried.

A financial consultant who lives in the building, Mr Arul Inthirarajah, 45, said: 'Some of us complained about the cracks about a month ago and the management committee said it would inform the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

'So far, we haven't been updated and we're worried because we don't know whether the building is safe.'

When The Straits Times visited the place yesterday, there were large machines which looked like rigs in front of The Plaza.

Occupants said they are soil-testing equipment and that they were brought in a few weeks ago by the authorities.

According to the vice-president of the Institution of Engineers Singapore, Ms Lee Bee Wah, 44, the floor and wall cracks were probably caused by the vibrations from the construction of the Circle Line.

Such cracks do not compromise the foundation of a building, she said, adding: 'If there're cracks in the columns and beams, which hold up a building, these should be seriously investigated.'

United Overseas Land, which manages the building, refused to comment on the cracks, which were discovered about three months ago, and referred The Straits Times to the LTA.

The LTA's spokesman stressed that Tuesday's cave-in and the cracks 'are completely separate'. She added that investigations to find out the reason for the cracks are ongoing.

Still, residents and tenants at The Plaza cannot help but wonder if the cracks warn of an impending disaster.

An engineer with more than 40 years' experience who helped build Singapore's first incineration plant in Ulu Pandan, Mr Chen Hung, 69, said others who live and work in buildings near the cave-in site should not panic.

'Cracks are not uncommon in buildings near construction sites, and from the information we have so far, it appears the collapse of Nicoll Highway was a localised incident which shouldn't affect the foundations of other buildings in the vicinity.'

He declined to speculate on what may have caused the cave-in but said investigators should ask whether the supporting walls in the tunnels were thick enough and embedded deep enough.

While mishaps do happen especially when working with soft marine clay, 'there's no such thing as a dramatic collapse', he said.

It is very likely that there were warning signs that the cave-in was going to happen, he added.

'We're talking about a strong design structure with reinforced concrete and steel. It can't just fold like a pack of cards without warning.'

The question is how early the warnings came and if anyone picked them up.

He pointed out that in the case of the Hotel New World, which fell in 1986, crackling sounds were heard four days before the tragedy.

The LTA has maintained that the only warning of the highway incident came a few minutes before the cave-in.

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In Arab Street, the shop Born 2 Fish has a crack across its wall. Cracks are not a problem as long as they are not found in beams and columns, says Ms Lee, vice president of the Institution of Engineers Singapore

Main contractor offers $30,000 each to grieving families

NISHIMATSU-Lum Chang Joint Venture, main contractor of the MRT Circle Line worksite at Nicoll Highway that collapsed, has offered an ex gratia payment of $30,000 to each of the four families who lost a member in the tragedy.

Lum Chang Holdings managing director David Lum told The Straits Times yesterday that the payment was unconditional and without prejudice, which means it does not preclude any of them from receiving or seeking further compensation in future.

'Nothing can really compensate them in terms of money, but this is something we can do for them right now to help them tide over this difficult period,' he said.

Mr Lum, speaking publicly for the first time since the accident on Tuesday, said the consortium will 'do all that is necessary' to prevent further damage to surrounding properties, repair Nicoll Highway, and put the Circle Line project back on track.

But he would not comment on why the supporting walls of the 30m-deep excavation gave way, or how this would affect the consortium's chances of landing future contracts on the 33km Circle Line.

Contracts for the last two stages of the $6.5-billion line, from Marymount to HarbourFront, have not been awarded yet.

Lum Chang, a home-grown company started in the 1940s, has worked with Japan's Nishimatsu Construction since 1984 without major incidents.

The group has been involved in several mega projects here, such as the UOB Plaza and Suntec City. It also regularly lands public works projects, such as MRT lines and depots.

In 1997, piling carried out by the consortium severed some phone cables. And in 1996, it was among a dozen contractors fined for unsafe work practices.

'We have had minor incidents, which every contractor has had,' Mr Lum said.

But he claimed he was not aware of a more serious incident that Nishimatsu was involved in overseas.

Two months ago, the firm was slapped with a �700,000 ($2.1 million) fine and ordered to pay �145,000 in costs by Britain's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for a tunnel blowout in 1998. The fine was among the highest meted out by the HSE.

Since the Nicoll Highway cave-in on Tuesday, Nishimatsu's share price has fallen 5 per cent, ending at 396 yen ($6) on the Tokyo bourse yesterday. Lum Chang share prices remained unchanged until yesterday, when it fell by 2 per cent to 23.5 cents on the Singapore Exchange.

Three Nishimatsu executives flew in on Wednesday, and were summoned for a meeting with the authorities yesterday. Mr Lum said that they were senior managing directors Keiji Fujimaki, Sayoshi Abe and Takeshi Hosoi.

The Land Transport Authority has said that the project is adequately insured. It buys cover against builder's risks as well as damages to third parties. In addition, there is workmen's compensation, underwritten by India International Insurance.

Smooth flow

Traffic situation after highway closure is 'quite smooth' but some bus commuters say journey to city now takes longer

TRAFFIC is flowing as smoothly as can be expected as motorists living in the east of Singapore come to grips with using the two alternative routes to get to work, now that Nicoll Highway is closed.

Yesterday, no jams were evident along Kallang Road between 8am and 10am, while the East Coast Parkway (ECP) had only the normal morning stream of cars at the stretch after the Tanjong Rhu flyover leading to the city.

It was quite a contrast to Wednesday, the day after the cave-in, when motorists had to slow to a crawl on the ECP and roads in the Geylang and Kallang area during the morning peak hour.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) waiver of electronic road pricing charges at the gantry in Kallang Road has led to an increase in motorists using that route.

An SBS Transit official who was at the Geylang bus terminal to monitor traffic along Geylang Road, which leads to Kallang Road, said there were no jams there yesterday between 8am and 10am.

Commuters who use the ECP said traffic during yesterday's morning peak hour was normal.

Broker B.C. Tan, 52, who works in Shenton Way and had detoured through Lavender Street on Wednesday morning because of the jam along Kallang Road, said the situation was 'not as bad' yesterday.

Architect Rick Yeo, 29, who lives in Siglap and works in Bukit Merah, said there were no jams when he was on the ECP at 8am.

'The traffic was heavy like most days. I'd say it's back to normal,' he said.

However, some commuters who take the bus into town said the journey took longer now.

One of them, Ms J.S. Tan, 37, an officer at a bank in Raffles Place, said it took her 20 minutes longer than usual to get to her office on Wednesday because of the rerouting of some services.

Seven bus services - SBS Transit 10, 14, 16, 70, 196 and 401, and Singapore Shuttle Bus 608 - have been diverted and their new routes are now longer.

SBS Transit had warned that commuters 'may experience some service irregularities'.

An LTA spokesman described the traffic situation since the Nicoll Highway closure as 'quite smooth'. There has been no major congestion as a result of the changes, she added.

East Coast Road resident Leslie Chia, 38, an engineer who used to take Nicoll Highway to go to work, suggested: 'The LTA should be more sympathetic to motorists and waive ERP charges on the ECP as well.'

Bridge section to be cut off so underpass can open

A SECTION of the Merdeka Bridge nearest the accident site will be cut off to allow the Crawford Underpass that passes under the bridge to be reopened to traffic.

The 48-year-old bridge is safe, but removing this 24.5m section will ensure it does not put pressure on the rest of the bridge, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday.

The 610m-long bridge spans the mouths of the Kallang and Rochor rivers, connecting Nicoll Highway to the Kallang area. It is supported by 26 pillars about 24m apart, but has broken off near the first of these supports, just before the accident site.

While the LTA emphasised that the bridge is still safe, it wants to ensure the damaged part does not put the whole structure under stress, as this might make Crawford Underpass unsafe.

This underpass connects Crawford Street to Republic Avenue and provides an alternative route from the Beach Road area to Marina Square and beyond.

LTA bridge engineering specialist Paul Fok said yesterday that holes will first have to be drilled through the 1.5m thick bridge, using a tool called a diamond core. Then a wire saw will be inserted in the holes to slice through the bridge like 'a string cutting through butter', he said.

None of this need worry nearby residents or motorists. They won't be affected, he said.

It will take up to three days to cut the segment off the bridge, the LTA said, but it is too early to say when the underpass can be reopened.

It said it is monitoring the area regularly and there are no further ground movements near the bridge or underpass.

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Lift ERP charges and check road structures

REGARDING the closure of Nicoll Highway due to the recent collapse, I have a couple of suggestions to make.

Motorists now have no choice but to swarm the East Coast Parkway (ECP) to get to work or to the city. The traffic situation is very bad.

The frustrating thing is that the Land Transport Authority is still imposing an ERP charge on road users on the ECP going towards Jurong.

When I pay a road toll, I expect smoother and faster travelling. If the road gets jammed - which is expected daily as motorists will not be able to use the Nicoll Highway, shouldn't the Government lift the ERP charges for the time being?

Indeed, whether a road toll is imposed or not, that stretch of road will see bad jams for some time.

Nowadays, with people owning bigger and heavier vehicles, I wonder whether our roads, expressways and bridges/flyovers can take the weight. This is especially so with the now-heavier-than-normal traffic flow on ECP, Sheares Bridge, etc.

Do the authorities conduct regular checks on the various structures, looking out for cracks, erosion, sinking, etc?


ANTHONY NG KIN HIAN

APRIL 24, 2004

Search called off

Too dangerous to go on; movement could affect surrounding area as well
Nearby buildings safe; checks show no shift in ground there

By Sharon Loh

MORE than three days after the cave-in at Nicoll Highway, rescuers were forced to call off the search for the last victim yesterday, because it had become simply too dangerous to carry on.

A slight movement could unsettle the unstable matrix of concrete slabs, steel beams, rubble and mud and bury rescue workers alive. If that happened, it would also endanger the surrounding area.

Singapore Civil Defence Force Commissioner (SCDF) James Tan announced the news to the media at 6.45pm. 'I am very sad to make such a decision, and I have to say sorry,' he said.

He revealed that he had broken the news himself two hours earlier to the family of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, 40. The foreman had gone back in to help others out, after a temporary supporting wall collapsed on the Circle Line MRT construction site and triggered the massive cave-in.

It was painful for the family to come to terms with the search being called off.

Rescue officers in their familiar orange-and-black vests have been withdrawn. But work to seal and stabilise the site will go on. Since early on Wednesday, workers had been doing this by pouring cement into the gaps.

Golden Mile Complex, the nearest building, is in no danger yet, since continuous checks show that there has been no movement in the ground there since the collapse on Tuesday.

But this could change if the authorities do not act to stabilise the area now.

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng was grim-faced as he told reporters that there was no alternative to calling off the search.

The gauges had registered continuous soil movements over the last few days and this meant the surrounding areas would be hit if no action was taken now.

'This is a very painful and very difficult decision to make but the government has no choice because this has implications for the safety of the whole area,' he said.

By Thursday, the bodies of the other three who died had been found and the search then focused on the collapsed tunnel shaft and two water-filled depressions nearby.

Rescuers believed Mr Heng may have been near the tunnel's base, as far as 30m underground.

After divers found nothing on Thursday night, the SCDF started pumping water out of the muddy depressions at 6am yesterday. Within two or three hours, they could see bottom, but not a body.

Another team tried to burrow its way to the bottom of the tunnel, but were defeated by a forest of twisted steel, concrete rubble, mud, water and clay in their way. They could not go straight down, and had only got as far as 15m.

Until the halt was called, only a heavy downpour at 3pm forced a stop yesterday, and only for 20 minutes.

Mr Heng's family had gone to the site at noon yesterday to see if anything more could be done.

Last night, the family visited the site one more time, accompanied by a monk chanting prayers and performing the last rites for Mr Heng, a father of two young children.

Also at the site yesterday was the three-man committee of inquiry appointed by the Manpower Minister. Senior District Judge Richard Magnus, who heads the panel, said the public hearing would begin on June 1.

'Because of the gravity of the matter, we'll start at 9am and finish about 6pm, Mondays to Fridays, until we complete the entire hearing,' he said.

A pre-inquiry conference of parties who want to be represented at the inquiry will be held on May 14.

The Land Transport Authority has also convened an independent panel to investigate the collapse.

Yesterday, Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong assured Golden Mile Complex tenants that the risk of the building's foundation being disturbed by earth movements was 'extremely small.'

It is being constantly monitored for changes in ground conditions.

Business at shops there has been slow; and shopkeepers, jittery, since Tuesday.

Mr Yeo said: 'As it stands today, it is 100 per cent safe but we are monitoring to make sure that if conditions do change, we are aware of it.'

Inspections of two other sites, Golden Mile Tower and the Concourse, have shown that they are safe, he added.

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An unstable matrix of concrete slabs, steel beams, rubble and mud made rescue difficult and unsafe. -- CHEW SENG KIM

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Going 15m deep, rescuers and divers were chin-deep in water, and at risk of being buried alive at any time. -- SCDF VIDEO

'Difficult, painful' decision for family

Counsellors and MPs gather to help the missing foreman's family cope with the decision to call off the search for his body

SHORTLY after 11pm, the family of Mr Heng Yeow Peow filed onto the site of the Nicoll Highway collapse, accompanied by a monk in yellow robes chanting prayers.

Singapore Civil Defence Force officers accompanied 12 family members to the area which had been pinpointed a day earlier as the likely spot where the body of Mr Heng, 40, a foreman with Kori Construction, a sub-contractor for the MRT Circle Line project, was buried.

As his widow approached, she became hysterical and began calling her husband's name. She hugged her eight-year-old daughter, who was crying loudly and calling: 'Pa-pa, pa-pa...'

Nearby, a male relative hugged her 10-year-old son as he sobbed quietly for his missing father.

Amid crying and wailing, 28 other relatives and friends stood behind barricades as they watched the final rituals.

After a few minutes, they left the site in silence.

It was the last of the five visits they had made to the area since Tuesday evening, when a section of the highway collapsed, burying Mr Heng and three others.

It also marked the end of a tumultuous day for the family, one that began with an extraordinarily long visit to the site in the late morning.

This visit was prompted by word from the SCDF that rescue work might have to be halted later in the day.

The family objected. They insisted that the SCDF explore other options, and brought engineers from Kori to carry out a site survey.

The engineers and Mr Heng's brother went into the cavity and saw the problem: A twisted mass of mangled steel, water and mud that made it impossible to descend further.

The engineers then told the family what SCDF officers had said earlier: Work was becoming impossible at the site as it was too dangerous.

That set in motion a chain of events to prepare the family for official word of the end of search operations.

When they returned to the Kampong Glam Community Club, which had been their home since Tuesday evening, it turned into a hive of activity, with politicians, SCDF officers, psychologists and counsellors among the visitors.

Among the first to arrive was their MP, Ms Irene Ng. The Straits Times understands that she helped to explain why the painful decision to call off the search might have to be made.

At around 4.45pm, the centre, which had been buzzing with activity and the blare of a television throughout the day, fell silent.

Land Transport Authority chief executive officer Ho Meng Kit and bigwigs from Nishimatsu-Lum Chang JV, the main contractor, accompanied SCDF Commissioner James Tan, who delivered the news to the family: Mr Heng's body was too deep for rescuers to get at without endangering other lives and the surrounding area.

The rubble in the area could shift at any time, burying rescue workers, or cause more soil movement, endangering buildings nearby.

The search effort would have to be called off.

As expected, it did not sit well. Some members of the family turned hysterical and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Psychologists and counsellors then moved in to comfort them and explain again why the decision, which Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng called 'difficult and painful', had to be made.

It seemed to work - to an extent. About an hour later, most of the family members had calmed down, and though they might not have accepted the decision, they were resigned to it.

For some members of the Heng family, hope had been lost earlier, and they just wanted a body so they could have closure.

On Thursday, his uncle, a taxi driver who wanted to be known only as Mr Chua, told The Straits Times: 'We are very tense, worried and anxious. But we know in our hearts that there is no hope. We are prepared for the worst.

'We just want the body to be found quickly.'

Late last night, Ms Ng, who had been with the family throughout, said: 'The Heng family is a strong family, and we are trying to be strong for them.

'We have assured them that we are behind them all the way, and the assurance has sunk in.'

Several agencies are helping Mr Heng's wife and two children cope with their finances. The Northeast Community Development Council last night gave them $1,000 in cash to tide them over.

Police also said they would write to the insurance companies to help them with claims. As there was no body, a death certificate might take some time.

Describing the mood last night, Dr Adrian Wang, who was helping the family cope, said: 'Not having a body is very difficult to take, because it is very hard to accept the loss when you can't see it.'

Dr Wang, consultant psychiatrist at the Anxiety and Mood Clinic at the Institute of Mental Health, added: 'Because there is no body, it is hard for closure to happen.'

He said that it was a difficult time for everyone involved at the Kampong Glam Community Club.

'It was a roomful of tears in there,' he said.

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Giving her support throughout, MP Irene Ng (right)comforts Mrs Heng, whose husband had been buried below the rubble. The Civil defence Force said it was too dangerous for search operations to continue.

Nearby buildings in no danger of collapse

Readings taken every two hours at three buildings close to disaster site show they are structurally sound

EVERY two hours, workers check soil movement, building tilt and other parameters at the Golden Mile Complex, Golden Mile Tower and The Concourse. All readings indicate that they are structurally safe and in no danger of collapse.

Giving the clearest indication yet that people living and working close to the Nicoll Highway disaster site are safe, Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said yesterday afternoon that the cave-in had not compromised the safety of the buildings so far.

He spoke to the media in the basement carpark of the Golden Mile Complex after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) had briefed him on the work being done to monitor any ground or structural shifts.

'Within the building, there has been absolutely no movement in the walls, the columns or the floors, from day one. I think that is a key assurance,' he said.

Outside, a drain about 5m away from the compound had moved by about 1cm, he said.

Since the collapse on Tuesday, the LTA, working with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), has stepped up checks from about once a day after construction work on the MRT line started to every two hours to assess the safety of nearby buildings.

At the cave-in site about 100m away, there was significant soil movement, especially the day after the disaster, but the situation has since stabilised 'a fair bit', he said.

Still, close monitoring will go on as long as necessary. Mr Yeo said: 'As it stands today, the building is 100 per cent safe, but we are monitoring to make sure that if conditions do change, we are aware of it.'

He understands how anxious people who live or work nearby must be, he said, but emphasised that they shouldn't be unduly worried.

Asked if an evacuation drill would be conducted, he said: 'At the present moment, there is no indication at all of the need for an evacuation, so let's not panic the people.'

He gave the assurance that if a building was deemed unsafe for any reason, the occupants would get ample warning. They would get several hours' notice, he said.

'The engineers... are not going to wait until the whole building is tilting before saying, 'Let's move'.'

To keep an eye on the buildings, various instruments are being used: the crack meter measures whether cracks have widened, the tilt meter checks the tilt of a building's critical columns, and the inclinometer, a tube-like device embedded in the soil, monitors soil movements up to 45m underground.

Checks have also been intensified on buildings further away, at The Plaza, a residential and office building in Beach Road, and in the Arab Street area, said the BCA, which held its own media briefing at the Golden Mile Complex before Mr Yeo arrived.

Occupants of The Plaza and several shophouses in Arab Street had earlier complained about wide cracks they had noticed on the walls and on the ground since January.

Both Mr Yeo and the BCA emphasised that it was common to see cracks in buildings near heavy construction sites, but unless such faults show up in the columns and beams supporting a building, they are not dangerous.

Asked about SMS messages being circulated, that claimed the Golden Mile Complex was being evacuated and The Concourse was tilting, Mr Yeo said: 'Never listen to speculation. If there is anything that needs to be done, it will be broadcast officially... So, SMS messages from friends and so on - please disregard them.'




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Cracks are no cause for alarm

'I THINK if you look back over all the years, when there is a major construction activity, it is very difficult to prevent some soil movement; therefore cracks in buildings are fairly common.

In my own house, when my neighbour started building his house, I had some minor cracks as well.

But the engineers tell me that the key thing is to make sure that the cracks are not in the load-bearing areas like the columns and the beams. It's like the floor here. The LTA engineers tell me that the cracks I'm seeing have been here for many years and, in fact, when they did the pre-construction survey, they found them here already. So such cracks are fairly common and there is no cause for alarm.

There is cause for alarm only when you get a major earth shift, which may result in the foundations being disturbed.

For this building, the foundations are built on steel piles that go very deep... so I think the risk is extremely small.'
- Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, speaking yesterday afternoon in the basement carpark of the Golden Mile Complex where there are some cracks on the carpark floor. The complex, with shops and homes, is the closest building to the cave-in

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A Tilt meter is used to check columns at the Golden Mile Complex. -- Lau Fook Kong

Shop owners relieved to learn Golden Mile is safe

Though business has been hit, what many shop owners wanted most was a word from management about the building's safety

TENANTS at the 16-storey Golden Mile Complex were jittery and concerned about their safety early yesterday morning.

But their mood had changed by evening, when word got round that ministers and the authorities had given reassurances that the building was safe and there was no cause for alarm.

Said a relieved hair salon owner Fan Som Ye, 40: 'So far, all I've seen and read about has been bad news, so I've been worried about my shop and my safety. Now, I feel assured that nothing will happen. It's like a heavy weight has been lifted off me.'

Mr Andre Lai, 55, who has been in the building for 35 years and owns a shop, residence and office there, said: 'I've been fairly confident we're not in any real danger, but still, it's good to hear this confirmation.'

Yesterday morning, tenants had been edgy, not having received updates on the safety of the building from their management after the collapse.

The management said it was waiting for word from the authorities before making plans for various eventualities and speaking to their tenants.

Meanwhile, shop owners braced themselves for the worst, with some closing their shops and coming up with their own evacuation plans.

Those who stayed open kept their shutter posts in place, ready to close up quickly.

Displays normally placed outside the shops were kept inside, important and expensive items taken home, and some stocks moved to other locations.

The owner of a human resource agency, Madam May Ampor, said that since Tuesday's collapse, she has been spending a lot of time calming Thais working on the Circle Line in other parts of the island.

'They came to see me and told me how afraid they were to go to work. Even the wives of those on their way to Singapore, called me from Thailand to tell me how worried they were.'

Shopkeepers said the disaster has hit them hard in the pocket, bringing business down by 30 to 60 per cent.

At adjacent buildings along Beach Road, Golden Mile Tower and the Concourse, sentiments were very different.

There, tenants were less concerned about safety and more upset by the lack of updates by their management. The management declined to comment.

But calm reigned at The Concourse. Tenants noted that the building was farther from the accident site and was fairly new.

It also helped that their management had sent out two statements saying that a professional engineer had been hired to monitor the building. The Building and Construction Authority also confirmed The Concourse has not been affected structurally.

LTA orders its worksites to be checked

BY EARLY next week, checks on the retaining walls, struts and other temporary structures at all 30 or so worksites on the Circle MRT Line and Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway will be completed.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA), which ordered the review after these supports collapsed at a site next to Nicoll Highway, will also ramp up checks on all excavation work to ensure it meets its standards. This will include making sure contractors use the right thickness and grade of steel supports and having enough instruments on site to detect soil movements.

At a press conference yesterday on safety measures on its MRT construction projects, LTA director of contracts and process Chua Chong Kheng said assessments of soil conditions and nearby buildings' foundations are carried out at all stages of a project.

The LTA also ropes in international experts twice a year to check that designs are sound. On the ground, it conducts its own inspections every day, reviews every quarter and safety audits every year.

'We believe we have a robust system,' he said, 'but we are upping our checks to ensure work is done according to what is specified.'

All this will be welcome news for jittery shopowners in the Arab Street area, just 200m from the accident site.

They said fresh hairline cracks show up on their shop walls each day and those which first appeared early last month have widened. Other common complaints are cracked pillars, tilting floors and doors which cannot open properly as the ground has shifted.

On Wednesday, they said, the authorities put in metal iron bars to support the pillars of shophouses in Bussorah Street.

Tenants of two flatted factories, at Block 1015 and Block 1016 only metres from an MRT Circle Line site in Paya Lebar, tell of occasional tremors since work began. They added that the ground surrounding the two buildings has sunk by at least 15cm.

Block 1016 tenant How Ah Thong, 56, said that about six months ago, he saw construction workers cementing the base of the two buildings at night.

Fifteen tenants of the block who attended a meeting with the Housing Board and the LTA last year were told the building is structurally sound.

One tenant who did not want to be named said: 'We asked for a letter of assurance that the building is structurally sound, but we haven't received it.'

Main contractor told to stop all excavation work

THE main contractor of the collapsed MRT worksite at Nicoll Highway has been ordered to halt all excavation work at other Circle Line sites it was working on.

The stop-work order was issued by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Wednesday and includes tunnelling at Paya Lebar, Old Airport Road and Tanjong Katong stations.

The LTA said it had called a halt to conduct a review of the sites.

At a press conference yesterday, main contractor Nishimatsu-Lum Chang said it has 'mobilised more than 300 workers and 100 supervisory staff' at the Nicoll Highway site.

It has also appointed government-owned CPG Consultants to help it monitor properties and structures around the area.

The company has also hired Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam of Rodyk & Davidson as a 'precautionary measure'.

Yesterday's conference was held by a seven-man panel from Nishimatsu-Lum Chang, including senior Nishimatsu executives who flew in on Wednesday.

Mr Keiji Fujimaki, 63, senior managing director and corporate secretary of Nishimatsu Construction, started the conference by standing up and apologising for Tuesday's collapse. The entire panel rose and bowed.

Since its formation in 1984, the partnership said it has had five fatalities at its worksites here, excluding the recent losses at Nicoll Highway.

A death at its Boulevard Station site last year is still being investigated.

Nishimatsu, active in major construction projects globally, claimed that Tuesday's collapse is its first case of failed diaphragm walls, the dam-like supports used to prevent soil movement during deep excavations.

Asked whether the collapsed walls had been thick enough to support what he said was 'the deepest' open excavation on the Circle Line, Nishimatsu project coordinator Paul Broome would only say the walls along the Circle Line were between 600mm and 800mm thick.

He added that the walls of the circular tunnel shaft standing at the affected site were 1m thick.

The excavation was to be 33m deep. It collapsed at around 30m, said Mr Broome.

Despite what has happened, Nishimatsu-Lum Chang intends to bid for contracts on the final two phases of the $6.5-billion Circle Line. It declined to say how the cave-in would affect its chances.

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Apologizing yesterday were the seven-man panel from Nishimatsu-Lum Chang managing director David Lum and Nishimatsu Construction senior managing director Keiji Fujimaki.

Why search was called off

No choice, a matter of safety

'In the last few days, we have used every method possible to look for Mr Heng's body. It has come to this very last stage which is the most difficult stage, where we have to dig something like 30m under the ground, where we believe the body of Mr Heng lies.

We've done about 15m, there is still another 15-20m to go, but it is not a vertical cut because there is a lot of mangled steel, concrete walls, mud, water and marine clay.

It is very difficult to go further. As a result, the SCDF has decided to cease the operation so another important step can be taken to stabilise the whole area. From the readings of the gauges over the last few days, there has been continuous soil movements and this will affect the surrounding areas if it is not stabilised.

The next step will be to stabilise the ground. In order to do that, the rescue operation has to cease. And to do that, Mr Heng's body cannot be recovered. This is a very painful and very difficult decision to make, but the Government has no choice because this has implications for the safety of the whole area.

I fully sympathise with the family of Mr Heng. My deepest condolences go to the family. It's a very painful and agonising decision for the Government to make, I hope they will understand. Of course, it is the family's hope that rescue operation will continue. We understand the hope, we empathise, but there are other issues we have to consider. Further soil movements as a result of digging will make it more difficult to control the damage. Of course, they are in grief, we share their grief.'
- Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng

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Risk of being buried alive

'We were trying to get to the base of the tunnel, but it was very difficult because there was mangled steel, concrete slabs, mud all over the place. Basically, we can't move at all. I brought this information to Mr Heng's family at around noon. I explained to them the situation. However, they were not satisfied, and I understand that.

They proposed that an engineer who worked at the site accompany me to propose ways to get to the base of the tunnel... I accepted his recommendation and we continued to carry out the operation. Mr Heng's brother, together with an LTA engineer and my rescuers went to the cavity... and found more problems. They came out and explored the other two approaches that we had already tried.

Both engineers advised me not to take such a risk to send our people to conduct such a search. Any slight movement may cause the collapse of the debris or rubble within the cavity... rescuers may be buried alive any time. Such a risk cannot be taken.

As rescuers, we looked into the next step... to carry out the cut-and-lift method. But the problem is that the mangled steel within the cavity cannot be moved at all. If we were to move them, we will create the risk of having mud or earth movement, which will result in endangering the surrounding areas here. So it was a very difficult situation, and we have to make a decision to stop the operation.

My colleagues and I brought the news to the Heng family. They are very sad, we understand that. But this is a decision that we have to make. I am very sad to make such a decision and I have to say sorry. I feel sorry that I can't do the job in saving the last man.'
- SCDF Commissioner James Tan

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DPM Lee praises rescuers for risking their lives

THE rescuers who have worked round the clock at Nicoll Highway bring honour to Singapore, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

Working under difficult and dangerous conditions and risking their own lives, they have gone beyond the call of duty, he said.

Asked what impact the highway's collapse would have on Singapore, he said in Mandarin: 'Not much, because this is an isolated incident and not an economic problem.' But there would be a psychological impact, he said.

Speaking to reporters at the Woodlands Regional Library after launching a reading programme, he said it was almost impossible to prevent something like this from happening.

'But since it has happened, we must deal with it effectively,' he said.

He had only praise for the men of the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

'To the rescue workers, we give our highest respect. Because for them to do this, it is not only for a job. This goes beyond the call of duty. They bring honour to Singapore,' he said.

He had words of comfort for the families of the victims, especially for the family of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, a foreman who has yet to be found:

'We know exactly how it feels, it's a very difficult time for them.'

And also for the nation.

The collapse would have a psychological impact on Singapore, he said.

'It's another experience we have gone through, something which we are not likely to forget, another event to bring us closer together. It's part of our common history and part of our growing up as a nation.'

Crisis response: When practice makes perfect

By Chua Mui Hoong

WHEN news of the Nicoll Highway collapse broke on Tuesday, e-mail flew across the civil service. Mobile phones rang. Within hours, a powerful group of senior civil servants was activated.

Early on Wednesday morning, the Homefront Crisis Executive Group (HCEG) held its first meeting on the incident.

Second Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Benny Lim chaired the group. The Home Affairs Ministry told The Straits Times that others at the meeting included Permanent Secretary (Ministry of Defence) Peter Ho, Permanent Secretary (Ministry of Transport) Peter Ong and Permanent Secretary (Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts) Tan Chin Nam.

Also present were representatives from the key agencies involved: the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), the police, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

On the agenda: How to deal with the ramifications of the collapse, and getting resources from across ministries.

Of course the agencies involved, like the SCDF and LTA did not have to wait for a high-level group to decide what to do. Within minutes, their officers were at the site.

Most decisions in any crisis are taken by individual agencies. But the HCEG allows for a coordinated, government-wide response that is essential in a crisis. Political oversight comes from Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, who in turn informs Cabinet colleagues of key developments.

In this crisis, different agencies have been roped in. Singaporeans would have seen the BCA taking care of safety issues in surrounding areas; the Ministry of Transport liaising with public transport operators; and community support - with counsellors from the Ministry of Community Development and Sports helping family members of victims and Kampong Glam Community Club turned into a holding area for them.

Singaporeans used to having an efficient government take it for granted, but that rapid crisis response is honed by constant practice.

The HCEG traces its roots to 1973, when an advisory committee was formed to come up with crisis plans in case of an aircraft hijacking. That advisory committee was renamed the Executive Group or EG in April 1978 and recently renamed the Homefront Crisis Executive Group.

Operating away from the public eye, it coordinates responses during national emergencies or periods of potential threat.

Since its inception, it has swung into action only a few times: the Hotel New World collapse in 1986; the hijacking of a Singapore Airlines plane in 1991; after the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and during the outbreak of Sars last year.

The group is supported by a secretariat, and ad hoc committees are formed to take care of specific areas. During Sars, sub-groups took care of housing, education, information and other issues.

Since crises are few and far between, the group keeps the civil service prepared for emergency by simulating one major civil disaster event each year, the most recent being the mock chemical attack at Raffles MRT station earlier this year.

No one can predict how individuals and groups will respond in a crisis, but practice certainly helps make perfect.

The response to the Nicoll Highway collapse so far has been smooth and rapid, which helps allay public anxiety. It is remarkable, for example, that two days after the incident, traffic flow was normal and motorists said their commutes into the city took no longer than usual.

As Singapore's much-lauded response to Sars shows, there are some characteristics of good crisis management.

Chief among these: A government-wide response that allows all necessary resources to be tapped. To execute this, a clear command and control structure is needed, so that key players have the necessary clout to make decisions.

The other lesson from Sars: There must be clear, open communication that aims to inform and instil calm rather than panic.

The setting up of an independent panel to investigate the incident, even as rescue work is still under way, will help allay concerns.

But there is room for improvement in crisis communication. One lesson from Sars was the time lag between perspectives from the ground and the official point of view. For example, patients and families' accounts of events may not tally with official accounts.

Just four days after the Nicoll Highway incident, examples of these have also surfaced.

For example, the LTA has said that there were no warning signs until mere minutes before the incident.

This is contradicted by workers on the ground, notably by one foreman who thought something was amiss and got his workers to down tools that morning, thus probably saving their lives.

On Tuesday, blackouts occurred in the area. Singapore Power said power was restored in 20 minutes, but some office workers said power came back over an hour later.

In a crisis, official information may not square with what people close to the action are seeing. There may be good reasons for the discrepancy. The way to respond to such accounts is to acknowledge them and retain an open mind, never to dismiss them outright unless they are patently alarmist or absurd.

Views from the ground have to be dealt with delicately. On the one hand, rumour-mongering that fuels panic must not be tolerated. On the other, eye-witness accounts can shed new light on an incident. Balance must be struck, and both the people and the authorities must remember that rumour and hearsay are as anathema to rational fact-finding as denials and cover-ups.

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The response was quick, with SCDF and LTA officers reaching the site within minutes of the disaster. But crisis communication can be improved forther. -- MOHD OSMAN SALLEH

Crisis response: When practice makes perfect





"practice makes perfect", choy....., I'm sure we don't need another SARS or another Nicholl Highway saga.....:D

Dad's gone, it's just a fistful of soil for memory

By Arti Mulchand

DANIEL HENG returned home yesterday with a fistful of soil from the cave-in site at Nicoll Highway, a last reminder of the father he lost in the tragedy.

Despite an exhaustive and dangerous search lasting three days, rescuers never found the body of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, the father of 10-year-old Daniel and a foreman with Kori Construction, a sub-contractor for the MRT Circle Line project.

That handful of soil, taken from the work site near where Mr Heng was last seen alive, was what his family had asked for.

It's to represent his body, said the dead man's nephew, Mr T.W. Heng, 21, a full-time national serviceman. It's been put into a miniature symbolic coffin behind Mr Heng's portrait. On Wednesday, the coffin and soil will be cremated together.

Yesterday, at the disaster site, more rites were performed for Mr Heng. That half hour held enough emotion for a lifetime for Daniel and his sister Joann, eight, who stood gripping her father's beige polo T-shirt in her hands.

They beseeched his spirit to 'come home'.

'Papa, faster come home! Come back!' they called out in Mandarin.

'Where are you?' said one of his brothers, in a voice racked with desperation.

As the ceremony neared its end, Mr Heng's mother, Madam Chua Baka Eng, 70, staggered away, supported by relatives. She was dry-eyed and seemed drained of tears.

Joss sticks in hand, Daniel, still urging his father's spirit to follow them, led the family onto a waiting bus. He was followed by Joann and their mother, Madam Sally Poa, 34, all weeping. As they left, more than 30 workers in uniform moved towards the altar, took off their hard hats and stood in silence, their thoughts with the man who had saved their lives only to lose his own.

The wake was held at Madam Chua's Tampines home. At least three of the Thai workers also went there to pay their respects and his colleagues from Kori Construction attended the wake in the evening.

Again, Madam Poa broke down when she spoke about her husband, the family's sole breadwinner. His has been classified as an unnatural death and the family can make no insurance claims until a death certificate is issued. But that could take up to seven years, unless the authorities make an exception.

At the wake, representatives from the project's main contractor, Nishimatsu, gave the family $30,000, to tide them over their current difficulties. The Northeast Community Development Council has given them $1,000 and more help may be forthcoming.

The children have taken some comfort in the fact that their father died a hero.

Daniel said he would now be the man of the house. He said: 'My daddy's a brave man. He's a good example and a special person. Not many would do what he did.' -- Additional reporting by Tracy Quek

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More rites were performed for foreman Heng Yeow Peow at the cave-in site yesterday. The body was never found. -- STEPHANIE YEOW

Section of highway to reopen

A 600M stretch of Nicoll Highway will reopen today to provide easier access to the National Stadium. But more than 2km will stay closed.

It may be nine months before the closed 2.1km stretch reopens, while the Land Transport Authority (LTA) repairs the damage caused by the collapse.

The LTA also hopes the Crawford Underpass can be reopened soon. It connects Crawford Street to Republic Avenue and provides an alternative route from the Beach Road area to Marina Square and beyond.

With the reopening, motorists heading for the National Stadium will be able to use the slip road instead of going through Mountbatten Road.

They can use Stadium Road to return to the city.

Stabilising ground is now top priority

Foam concrete is being injected into site to safeguard nearby buildings

By Arti Mulchand

TUESDAY'S cave-in left a dangerously unstable matrix of mangled steel, concrete, rubble and earth that could slip and shift at any time, further undermining the Circle Line site and Nicoll Highway.

Since rescuers gave up searching for Mr Heng Yeow Peow, the last missing worker, the top priority has been to stabilise the ground. Any further soil movement could put nearby buildings at risk.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) moved in as soon as the search was called off late on Friday, to inject concrete into the parts thought most likely to shift or collapse. The Manpower Ministry and the Criminal Investigation Department have now completed their preliminary investigation of the site, said police spokesman Tan Puay Kern.

Yesterday, after Mr Heng's family performed the last rites for him, a specialised 500-tonne crane began removing equipment, vehicles and any loose structures from the site. Completed parts of the tunnel and its shaft were sealed off.

Then boom pumps mounted on trucks injected fine foam concrete into the ground. This almost creamy cocktail of concrete, chemicals and compressed air settles at the deepest point, filling every crack and crevice.

It is fed in remotely through telescopic snorkels and a network of pipes, avoiding the need for 'human entry', said LTA's senior project manager for the first stage of the Circle Line, Mr Guy Taylor.

About a tenth the strength of normal structural concrete, the foam concrete should harden enough in two to three weeks to hold things together, yet be soft enough to be ripped apart when construction of the tunnel resumes.

Encasing them is safer than trying to remove embedded structures, said Mr Taylor. 'The concrete walls may currently be held apart by mangled steel. If we try and pull it out, the pressure around it would slam the panels close.'

This might cause a further collapse. Normal structural concrete will be poured on top of the foam concrete once it's hardened, so the surface can support cranes and other heavy equipment that can remove the steel beams sticking out of the ground.

What's left below ground will be dealt with only when workers resume work on the tunnel. But first, the area has to be made stable and the highway rebuilt; the latter could take as long as nine months.

The LTA has to tread cautiously, says Mr Rajan Krishnan, its director of projects, as one wrong step could 'trigger off another movement or, worse, collapse', he said. 'It will be done step by step. There is no rush and we are in no hurry.'

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To prevent a further collapse, the mangled structures will not be removed; they will be encased in concrete. -- TERENCE TAN

Panel appeals to eyewitnesses, experts to come forward with information

THE three-man committee of inquiry set up to examine last Tuesday afternoon's Nicoll Highway collapse is asking members of the public who have information on the tragedy to step forward.

In a statement, the committee cited media reports which highlighted eyewitness accounts of the incident or of experts giving their views on the cause of the cave-in. It said that people with such information should forward it to the committee.

Those who wish to give evidence or be represented at the hearing may contact committee secretary Mohamed Ismadi by May 3 at 18 Havelock Road, #03-02, Singapore 059764, or by telephone on 6317-1246, or by e-mail to Ismadi_Mohd @mom.gov.sg

Senior district judge Richard Magnus heads the panel whose other members are Associate Professor Teh Cee Ing, head of the division of geotechnical and trans- portation engineering at Nanyang Technological University, and Mr Lau Joo Ming, director of the Housing Board's building technology department.

They will determine if there was negligence, including criminal liability.

The committee will submit a report of its findings and recommend ways to prevent another such disaster. The panel is separate from the one set up earlier by the Land Transport Authority.

Last man out

The Thai national, who was hurt on his face, head and back, was also the last man to see foreman Heng alive

By K. C. Vijayan

HE WAS the last man out, and the last one to see foreman Heng Yeow Peow alive.

Yesterday, after he was discharged from hospital where he had been warded since the Nicoll Highway collapse last Tuesday, Thai national Somkhuan Norinthong told his story: of his foreman's bravery, the terrifying scramble to get to safety and his last look back at Mr Heng.

Mr Somkhuan, who suffered face, head and back injuries in the incident, recalled the first sign of trouble that day - loud, cracking sounds near the bottom of the 30m-deep pit where they were working.

Immediately, he said, Mr Heng ordered him and seven others out of the pit.

Said Mr Somkhuan, 21, yesterday: 'Speaking in Thai, Ah Heng told me to get out while he waited.

'As I climbed a few steps on the ladder, I turned around and asked if he was coming, but with his hand waving in the air, he shouted: 'Up, up, up!',' said Mr Somkhuan in Thai.

By then, he said, cracks were appearing in the retaining walls and earth was pouring through them very quickly.

As he made his way to the surface, he said, the walls around him were collapsing.

'I was very frightened. I grabbed the ladder and closed my eyes. I could feel the ladder shaking very strongly.'

Then he was hit.

'Suddenly, there was a popping sound from beneath me, and a beam flew past me, hitting my body and the right side of my face.

'The ladder hit me on the left eyebrow.

'I blacked out for a while, and when I opened my eyes, I saw clouds of dust all over me.

'The ladder had given way, but I held onto a metal pole that was part of the ladder. I then grabbed a loose cable nearby and pulled myself up, using cracks in the concrete and other openings.'

As he climbed to safety, beams came loose behind him and the snapping sounds grew louder.

Finally, he managed to reach the top, but he didn't stop trying to escape.

He ran for a few minutes before fellow workers caught up with him in Crawford Street, about 300m away.

Yesterday, Mr Somkhuan said he is still in a lot of pain from his injuries, and he is on medical leave for another two weeks.

The youngest of 10 children, Mr Somkhuan's family is from north-eastern Thailand.

His main concern now is recovering quickly from his injuries so the pain will go away and he can think of work again.

But even when he does, he says he will always have Mr Heng in his thoughts.

'I owe him my life for saving my life. It is something I will never forget.'

Loving to the last

By Goh Chin Lian

NO MATTER how late he got home after work, Mr Heng Yeow Peow, 40, always checked on his two sleeping children.

He also made it a point to reward them for doing well in school. Two years ago, he bought Daniel, 10, a Gameboy; last year, it was a CD player. Last December, he took his son and daughter Joann, eight, to Genting Highlands. On his days off, he would take Joann swimming.

But there will be no more such gestures. Their father is buried in an MRT tunnel near Nicoll Highway.

'He'd been saving to get a Nissan Sunny, so the whole family could go out together,' his wife, Mrs Sally Heng, 34, told The Straits Times yesterday at his wake in Tampines Street 22.

Her husband rode a decade-old motorcycle, which is somewhere in the wreckage.

The search for the foreman's body was called off on Friday night when it got too dangerous.

Mrs Heng accepts the decision as she does not want the rescuers to further risk their lives. Her husband would not have wanted it.

He was a thoughtful man, said the housewife. He would pay for his workers' meals when they were short of money, and installed an umbrella on the bicycle she used to ferry their children to school, to shield them from the sun.

On his days off, the brawny man who left school after Primary 4 would string beads to make pendants as gifts. He gave Mrs Heng a heart-shaped one on her birthday last year.

She is not sure how she will go on, she said, as she does not work and wants her kids to keep having English and maths tuition. There are also 15 more years of mortgage payments to be made.

'I'm thankful when people offer to help me, but I don't feel good inside accepting. We've always managed on our own. I've told my children from now on, whatever they want they can only think about it. They can't demand as much from Mummy, because we need to save.'

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Tough years lie ahead for Mrs Heng and daughter Joann. She also has a son, Daniel. -- CHEW SENG KIM

Last rites

THE family of Chinese national Liu Rongquan, 36, flew into Singapore yesterday to perform the last rites for him.

His wife, Madam Yao Yang Lan, who is in her 30s, and teenage son flew in from Jiangsu, China, in the afternoon and headed straight for the Nicoll Highway site where Mr Liu's body was recovered on Thursday morning.

They were accompanied by Madam Yao's younger brother and Mr Liu's elder brother.

At about 4pm, Taoist monks performed religious rites at the site of the incident.

An hour later, Madam Yao and her 14-year-old son were taken to Sin Ming Drive, where Mr Liu's body was lying in a sealed casket.

Upon seeing Mr Liu's picture on the casket, his wife collapsed, and had to be supported by her relatives.

Several people from Jiangsu who also work here were at the wake. Said one: 'He was a very hardworking man. He worked here for many years before, came back again recently, and had hoped to be able to bring his family over.' -- Tanya Fong

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Mr Liu's distraught wife, Madam Yao, collapsed when she saw his picture on the casket. -- ENRIQUE SORIANO

On a trip down highway's memory lane

Opened in 1956 to great traffic relief, it later became a symbol of independence

By Serene Goh

NICOLL Highway now lies in rubble, causing commuters some heartache.

Even before last Tuesday's collapse closed the 48-year-old artery that connects Kallang to the Central Business District, it had been a pain for its constant traffic jams, driving motorists to turn to swifter routes, particularly the East Coast Parkway (ECP).

Yet when the 759m-long highway opened in 1956, it was a much-needed bypass that relieved traffic congestion, shaving more than an hour off a commute.

That was also the overriding attraction for practical-minded Singaporeans, who were hardly impressed that the highway and adjoining Merdeka Bridge were the largest pre-stressed concrete bridge in 1956 Malaya. Nor were they impressed that the highway cost $8 million - about $85 million today.

Perhaps, the fact that Pakistan then boasted the longest bridge in Asia took away much of the shine.

At best, most Singaporeans had only a vague understanding of Nicoll Highway before its opening, says President S R Nathan, 79, who has lived in Katong since before the highway was built.

More preoccupied with 'eking out a daily living', people then viewed Nicoll Highway as British property and showed 'no great emotion about it', he told The Straits Times at the Istana at the weekend.

There were scant public transport options then and President Nathan recalls they included a trolley bus service that ran from Geylang Serai to Tanjong Pagar and 'mosquito buses' that could carry up to 10 people.

Roads were so polluted, a man's shirt would turn a shade darker from fumes during a commute. So when the highway opened after two years of construction, people were relieved 'at being saved from the hassle they had been going through'.

Like many, Madam Lucy Yeo, 64, a retired administrative assistant who lived in Joo Chiat then, cheered its opening: 'I could take the bus from the highway across this beautiful bridge to work in Change Alley every day.'

Deeper sentiments towards Nicoll Highway evolved only later.

The turning point was a political awakening in the late 1950s, says President Nathan.

'There was talk of the coming of elections, and Malaya getting its independence from the British in 1957,' he says. 'We were talking about our own independence too, and a new consciousness had arisen - political change was being anticipated.'

Although some grumbled that the name Merdeka (Independence) was too political, suggesting such neutral alternatives as Bottleneck Bridge, others favoured Merdeka as it was loaded with meaning.

Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed, 56, Mayor of the Northeast Community Development Council, remembers his elders being thrilled at the name because 'it signified our move towards independence from the British'.

But even that route to independence had its detours.

President Nathan, then a civil servant, recalls his Saturdays spent piling sandbags off Nicoll Highway into the reclaimed area where Marina Promenade now lies.

His participation, with that of about 13,000 civil servants, was the result of then national development minister Ong Eng Guan's Operation Lung, a socialist campaign to involve white-collar workers in manual labour while building a seafront promenade off the highway.

This political context, however, contrasts starkly with the pipe dreams of the colonial city councillors who had envisioned it as Singapore's answer to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

They lauded the idea that it could be lit up at night to attract tourists, even saying it should be done simply because 'we have electricity to spare', according to a 1956 report in The Straits Times.

But perhaps it was the sight of a young Mr Goh Chin Guan, now 52, swimming naked that excited visitors more.

'British tourists would offer us money to take our photos as we jumped off Merdeka Bridge into the Kallang River,' says the retired supervisor of a swimming complex.

Nicoll Highway was also part of Mr Zainul's childhood. He remembers riding pillion on a family friend's Hillman 'bone-shaker motorcycle' across the bridge to the Padang 'to absorb the atmosphere'.

Its light-up at night made a lifelong impression. 'I can still remember the vision of the lights - they looked like jewels.' And till this day, 'when I go to Parliament, I take Merdeka Bridge and Nicoll Highway,' he says.

The highway had its group of detractors who called the design by the Public Works Department design 'wasteful and extravagant'.

Three top Malayan civil engineering firms even proposed shorter bridges that would cost less than $2 million. In a Straits Times report on Jan 13, 1955, they said a shorter bridge would suffice because the highway need not run over existing 'dry, filled-in ground'.

Other engineers worried that part of the highway built on reclaimed land would sink.

In the years that followed, Nicoll Highway continued to make news - mostly for its regular clog-ups as the number of vehicles increased.

No doubt, it was a destiny foretold long ago.

Back in 1956, Public Works Department superintending engineer R.J. Hollis-Bee, pointed out that its original design to carry 5,400 vehicles at a peak hour, headed in one direction, would have to be widened after a decade to accommodate more vehicles.

As the National Stadium and, later, Suntec City areas became more developed, continual additions of roads worsened the situation.

Even so, Mr Gopinath Menon, 60, a consulting engineer who lives in the east coast, recalls the bridge with nostalgia as it was an inevitable part of 'the countless number of times' he has travelled into the city area.

Despite the opening of the ECP in 1981, he and other residents of Mountbatten, Katong and Guillemard continued to use Nicoll Highway, which has 'many firsts', he says.

It is Singapore's first high-speed road, the first to have two stone lions at each end and the first 'tidal-wave' road in which traffic flow changed at different times of the day, introduced in the late 1960s.

At its outset, two lanes catered to traffic headed in each direction, and the three centre lanes were solely for cars. These centre lanes carried city-bound traffic from midnight to noon, then reversed the flow to Kallang from noon to midnight.

Across Nicoll Highway stands the first and widest free-standing pedestrian bridge - 6m wide against the normal 2m - near the National Stadium, built to carry the football crowds in the 1970s when the Kallang Roar reverberated.

Mr Menon recalls National Day celebrations of past, when the stretch would be 'bedecked with bannerettes' streaming down and is looking forward to its rebuilding 'as soon as is practicable'.

He may have to wait as long as nine months, according to the Land Transport Authority.

Likewise Mr Francis Tan, 51, manager of Thai Village Sharksfin Restaurant in Stadium Boulevard, who echoes the practical sentiments of Singaporeans of the 1950s.

His 'full house every night' business has dropped 50 per cent since the highway was closed.

'This whole area has been affected. Even on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, when we usually have a long queue, not many people came because they don't know they can still get here via Stadium Crescent Road,' he says.

THEN & NOW

Oct 23, 1953: Plans to start work on Merdeka Bridge are confirmed and adjoining it will be Nicoll Highway.

1954: Piling work begins on Nicoll Highway.

Jan 13, 1955: Director of Public Works, Mr A. Wear, announces the 759m-long highway will be completed by June 1956.

June 22, 1956: The longest and largest bridge in South-east Asia is christened Merdeka Bridge by the Minister for Communications and Works, Mr Francis Thomas. The city council suggests the road adjoining it be named Nicoll Highway, after the former Governor of Singapore, Sir John Nicoll.

June 26, 1956: Extraneous mud delays completion of Nicoll Highway.

Aug 17, 1956: Religious leaders in Singapore bless Nicoll Highway after it is officially opened by the Chief Minister, Mr Lim Yew Hock.

Give Nicoll Highway hero a medal

I WOULD like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the four families who lost loved ones in the Nicoll Highway tragedy. They lost their lives helping to build our MRT line and they deserve our deepest gratitude.

I am particularly moved by what I have read about the heroic efforts of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, who lost his own life because he went back to save the lives of his fellow workers. I feel the nation should honour him.

In Britain, if an individual like Mr Heng sacrificed his life to save others, he would be given the country's highest civilian honour, the George Medal. I do not know if Singapore has a similar medal or honour. If not, may I suggest the Government creates one and gives Mr Heng a posthumous award?

I would also like to suggest some of the excess money from the Sars Courage Fund be channelled into a new Heroes Fund and given to the families of future heroes of Singapore who have lost their lives serving the nation.

Mr Heng's family can be the first beneficiary. He has left behind two young children who should be adequately provided for.

Incidentally, while Lum Chang's gesture to offer $30,000 to each of the bereaved families is to be acknowledged, I feel it is too little.

DR JAMES LOH CHOON MIN

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LAST year it was Sars, this time it's the collapse of part of Nicoll Highway.

In both cases, people died and there were heroes.

We should preserve our memory of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, the foreman who went back to rescue his fellow workers and whose body will never be found, and before him the doctors and nurses who died in the battle against Sars.

For Mr Heng, we could create a plaque or small statue in a prominent place in Nicoll Highway MRT station when it is completed, or even rename the station after him.

For Dr Alex Chao and his fellow health-care workers, how about a new hospital wing or research laboratory? Perhaps we could even name a new school or the next batch of navy ships or submarines after them. There are many possibilities.

Singapore has many places and schools that are identified with long-departed British monarchs and colonists. Why not have something to help us remember today's heroes tomorrow?

KEVIN LIM FUNG MING

A salute to the brave men of SCDF and Dart

TRIBUTE should go to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) teams who worked tirelessly at all times during the Nicoll Highway collapse. We often forget that, whenever any accident occurs, they are the ones we depend on to rescue us or come to our aid.

Just like the victims, the SCDF men and women have families who worry about them when they risk their lives to save others.

Thanks to our unsung heroes.

WONG LAI KUAN (MDM)

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OUR hearts go out in fervent gratitude to the more than 30 heroes of the Singapore Civil Defence Force who risked their lives in the course of their rescue work, sometimes digging with their bare hands in waist-deep, murky waters, beyond the call of duty.

Also to the members of the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) who groped their way underground and underwater, in confined spaces, in almost pitch darkness in the face of 'a deadly jumble of concrete slabs, shifting soil and rubble under sagging steel struts and twisted I-beams that could collapse at any moment'.

Their undaunted perseverance and painstaking patience finally resulted in the successful dislodging of the bodies of three trapped victims.

We salute them and convey to them our thanks for their heroism and sacrifice in carrying out their dangerous task.

LEE KIP LEE

Workers deserve more pay

WITH regard to the collapse of Nicoll Highway, I would like to give my comments:

To view the accident from a different angle, we should now look more at the present situation in the construction line, which needs more appreciation of the people who work at the front line (from workers up to managerial level) in terms of income and benefits.

Since I have worked in the Singapore construction line for the past four years, I have noticed the reward is quite low but the risk is high and requires a high degree of accuracy. Compared with other lines, the difference in terms of income is significant.

I hope everyone can learn from this accident and consider it from the same view.

EDWIN WIRANEGARA

MAY 3, 2004

EACH family of the six men who died recently in accidents at the Nicoll Highway and Ayer Rajah construction sites could get up to S$111,000 in compensation from insurers.

The final amount will depend on their ages and last-drawn salaries.

According to NTUC Income, which is not an insurer in either case, the amount of workmen's compensation can range from S$37,000 to S$111,000 in case of a death.

For serious injuries resulting in permanent total incapacity, the payment is from S$49,000 to S$147,000.

Again, the actual amount depends on the victim's age and salary.

A spokesman for the Manpower Ministry which administers the compensation scheme said that all manual workers, regardless of their earnings, are covered by the Workmen's Compensation Act.

The Act requires employers to ensure that workers will receive compensation in the event of an injury at work.

Besides insurance, donations are also pouring in for the families. Various grassroots organisations are collecting money for them.


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Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Wife too distraught to attend hubby's cremation

By Crystal Chan

EVER since leaving his first job here in April last year, Mr Liu Rongquan yearned to return to Singapore to work.

Early this month, the 36-year-old mainland Chinese construction worker from Jiangsu got his wish.

Just 10 days after he returned, however, Mr Liu's second 'tour of duty' ended tragically when he was killed along with three others in last Tuesday's Nicoll Highway collapse.

Yesterday evening, he was cremated at Mount Vernon Crematorium, but his wife, who had flown here from China on Sunday specially for the ceremony, did not attend.

Madam Yao Yang Lan, 36, was too distraught to attend the cremation and has been crying almost non-stop since she arrived, said her husband's colleagues.

After collapsing upon seeing her husband's casket on Sunday, she fell to her knees again yesterday afternoon and wailed loudly throughout the wake, unable to come to terms with her loss.

Finally, the housewife was led away by a colleague of her husband and driven away in a taxi to her hotel.

The cremation was attended by Mr Liu's brother-in-law, his eldest brother, Mr Liu Rongming, 55, and 14-year-old son Yongqing, who also flew in from China on Sunday.

The youngest of four children, the victim has two brothers and a sister. His parents are in their 80s.

At the wake yesterday, six of Mr Liu's fellow villagers who also work here and about 10 colleagues were on hand to pay their respects too.

Also present were several Singaporeans who did not know him, but who said they felt saddened by what had happened and wanted to contribute in some small way.

Yesterday, his brother talked about how Mr Liu had worked hard to give his family a better life.

He said: 'Rongquan's main concern was to earn more money to send back home. He wanted to work here as the wages are higher than in China.

'My parents are very sad to lose such a filial son.'

Now, the family's main concern is getting whatever compensation is due to Mr Liu and returning to China with his ashes.

Nishimatsu-Lum Chang Joint Venture, the main contractor for the collapsed MRT worksite, has offered $30,000 to each of the four families which lost a member in the tragedy.

Said Mr Liu Rongming: 'My brother's employer has taken care of his funeral. We hope the compensation can be settled quickly.

'We can stay in Singapore for only two weeks and my brother was the sole breadwinner.

'The money will help the family while his wife looks for a job.'

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At his father's wake, son Yongqing, 14, paid his respects. He attended the cremation with relatives. -- JOYCE FANG

Bridge cutting: 80% of work done

By Alexis Hooi

WORK to slice off part of the Merdeka Bridge, the section of Nicoll Highway that spans the mouth of the Kallang and Rochor rivers, is more than 80 per cent done.

The job is due to be completed today.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) says the 48-year-old bridge is safe, but a 24.5m length of it near the site of the highway collapse has had to be removed to prevent the rest of the bridge from being weakened and to allow the authorities to reopen the Crawford Underpass directly below.

The underpass connects Crawford Street to Republic Avenue and provides an alternative route from the Beach Road area to Marina Square and beyond.

Wearing hard hats now ubiquitous to the area, about 20 workers wielding diamond-reinforced drills and wire saws have been labouring round the clock to hack off the section since last Thursday.

They have to cut 1.6m into the road.

LTA's manager for road structure and facilities, Mr Quek Song Kim, said yesterday that while the work had been hampered by less-than-perfect weather, residents and motorists in the area near the Golden Mile Complex had no cause for concern.

'We've taken the necessary precautions during the cutting process so there are really no safety concerns,' he said.

At the same time, LTA engineers and workers are pouring foam concrete into crevices and apertures at the site of the cave-in to stabilise the area.

Since Saturday, four pumps mounted on trucks have poured about 2,200 cubic metres of foam concrete into the site, the LTA said in a statement yesterday.

The amount used so far is enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

About a tenth the strength of concrete used in buildings, the foam is expected to hold things together, yet be soft enough to dispose of when construction of the tunnel resumes.

When the foam hardens in two to three weeks' time, normal concrete will be poured on top of it, so cranes and other heavy equipment can move in to remove the steel beams protruding out of the ground at the crash site.

The whole process, including the restoration of Nicoll Highway, is expected to take about six to nine months.

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Workers drilling holes into Merdeka Bridge in preparation for slicing off a 24.5m section so that it does not put pressure on the rest of the bridge. -- DESMOND WEE

More road and ERP changes to ease traffic

APART from work on the Merdeka Bridge to hasten the reopening of Crawford Underpass, changes have also been made to ease traffic affected by the closure of Nicoll Highway.

Already, a 600m stretch of the highway was reopened on Sunday as an alternative route to the National Stadium instead of Mountbatten Road.

One left-turning lane into Crawford Street was also opened on Saturday to smoothen city-bound traffic along Kallang Road turning into Crawford Street.

From today, a bus lane along Geylang Lorong 1 going towards Upper Boon Keng Road will be converted into a right-turning lane headed for Mountbatten Road, to ease traffic coming from the city.

To facilitate this, bus services 21, 26, 31, 62 and 158 will be diverted to make a U-turn from Geylang Road to Kallang Road. They will serve the bus stop outside Kallang MRT station instead, as part of their route.

Meanwhile, motorists using Kallang Road will get an indefinite respite from ERP charges.

The Land Transport Authority stopped charging a toll at the Kallang Road gantry from 8.30am to 9.30am after Nicoll Highway was closed.

Elsewhere, charges at two gantries on the Central Expressway (CTE) will be raised from Monday. p> Motorists will have to pay $1.50, 50 cents more, at the one between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Braddell Road between 7.30am and 8am.

The toll at the gantry on the Pan-Island Expressway slip road into the CTE will now be $2.50, an increase of 50 cents, between 7.30am and 8am.

The toll will be halved at the Bendemeer Road gantry to 50 cents between 8.30am and 9am.

Hero Heng: Fund for family

A FUND has been set up for the family of Mr Heng Yeow Peow, the foreman who was killed in the Nicoll Highway collapse.

The family's sole breadwinner, Mr Heng leaves behind his wife and two school-going children, aged eight and 10.

Miss Irene Ng, the MP for Tampines GRC and adviser to Tampines Changkat grassroots organisations, is collecting funds from her community for the family.

Members of the public are welcome to contribute.

They can send a cheque made payable to 'Tampines Changkat CCC Welfare and Education Fund Committee'.

Donors are asked to indicate that the funds are for the Heng family and mail their contribution to: 13 Tampines Street 11, Singapore 529453.

Behind the collapse

THE Nicoll Highway subway construction collapse was in civil engineering terms a major mishap, with potential for widespread damage and disruption. Above ground, the arterial road that slices through a dense office-block, hotel and retail district centred on Suntec City links a busy downtown grid with the suburbs. Underground, the epicentre of the cave-in and the surrounding soil anchor cables and supply lines for electricity and gas, telephone and other communication modes. As high-rise denizens, Singaporeans are well aware that the soil, some of it reclaimed from the sea, also locks in stability for the many tall buildings in the area. A vital part of Singapore could have been knocked out of commission by the gaping hole and probable rolling soil movement. Soil and building stability is still being tested every day, and data obtained so far have been reassuring. Still, the decision to shut down underground work on the MRT Circle Line for preventive checks shows a degree of caution the public could not possibly dispute. What has been remarkable is that the economic life of the affected areas and the people's daily routine have been barely compromised in the week since the accident occurred. Singaporeans can be thankful for it.

As they pay silent homage to the four dead workers and the brave rescue crews who had worked in dangerous conditions, they should also draw comfort from the fact that emergency preparedness and sound crisis management have again spared Singapore incalculable damage. These attributes were demonstrated during the Sars crisis last year, and the Nicoll Highway disaster has found the teams well drilled. None of this was fortuitous, but the result of forethought and planning. Our political columnist Chua Mui Hoong recounted in some detail in her column last Saturday how a crisis team headed by several permanent secretaries of ministries, called the Homefront Crisis Executive Group, coordinated not only rescue work, which rightly rated the highest priority, but concurrently ensured that public convenience and the lifeblood of business were not disrupted. From alternative traffic routing planned by the Land Transport Authority and traffic police to grief counselling for the victims' families provided by the Ministry of Community Development and Sports, from the Singapore Civil Defence Force's rescue options to building checks supervised by the Building and Construction Authority, this was a smooth operation only a well-oiled system could have put on.

Also worthy of note is the information flow from the authorities to the public via daily briefings and news conferences. Release of information in crisis situations that is concise, complete and quick is half the battle won in maintaining public calm. The importance of that cannot be stressed too highly. We in the print and broadcast media can be only as effective in informing the people as the quality of the input received. The twin pillars in crisis management - preparedness and information flow - need to be continually evaluated from experiences encountered. During the late-night power blackout of April 13, the public's assessment was that the paucity of quick information from Singapore Power was a letdown. If this had been an act of sabotage by terrorists, there was no telling how serious a deficiency the shortcoming could have become. As large-scale terrorist attacks are the gravest threat Singapore now faces, it must be humbling even for the principals in the crisis group that they have to keep learning and adapting.

ERP charges at Kallang Road gantry lifted

I REFER to Mr Anthony Ng Kin Hian's letter asking that Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) charges for the East Coast Parkway (ECP) be lifted (ST, April 23).

With the closure of Nicoll Highway, many motorists now use other roads to get to the city, including Kallang Road and the ECP.

Since April 21, we have lifted the ERP charge at the Kallang Road gantry. There will be no charge until further notice.

We also considered lifting the ERP charges at the ECP. However, doing so will attract more traffic to the ECP and worsen the situation there.

We are exploring other options to improve traffic flow, such as adding lanes to critical junctions. We are also closely monitoring the situation at Kallang Road up to Geylang Road, and have adjusted the traffic signals to cater to the heavier city-bound traffic.

We would like to assure the public that our bridges and flyovers are designed to cater for full traffic loading and are able to withstand the increase in traffic.

We would like to seek readers' patience and understanding for the inconvenience caused by traffic diversions. Should they have other feedback or suggestions, they can contact us on 1800-CALL LTA (2255 582).



HAN LIANG YUAN (MS)
Senior Manager
Corporate Communications
Land Transport Authority

SCDF grateful for support

I REFER to the letters by Madam Wong Lai Kuan and Mr Lee Kip Lee ('A salute to the brave men of SCDF and Dart'; ST, April 26).

The tireless efforts and perseverance of our rescuers and Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) person-nel after the Nicoll Highway collapse last Tuesday would not have been possible without the steady support shown by members of the public, community and political leaders, friends from the media, as well as many other well-wishers, over the course of the four-day rescue work.

This was without a doubt one of the most physically gruelling and emotionally draining operations that we had undertaken. Our heartfelt thanks go to everyone in Singapore, because their words of encouragement had given our personnel the added impetus to press on in their search-and-rescue efforts, despite the daunting circum-stances.

We also wish to offer our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. Our thoughts are with them.


LT-COL N. SUBHAS
Director, Public Affairs Department
Singapore Civil Defence Force

APRIL 28, 2004

Clue may lie in pit 30m down

Before cave-in, team headed by foreman Heng was sent to shore up steel beams after an inspection

By K.C. Vijayan

THE area where foreman Heng Peow Yeow last worked may be the first place to look for clues to the Nicoll Highway collapse.

The Straits Times understands that a team of nine men, headed by Mr Heng, was specially diverted to the area, about 30m down in a pit, to shore up the struts of steel beams there with concrete last Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier that same morning, several officials had also gone down to the same level to inspect the site, said a Thai construction worker who was there at the time.

Mr Sei Ichi Shiga, general manager of Kori Construction, confirmed yesterday that officials from Kori Construction and Nishimatsu Construction did descend sometime before 11am 'to make some checks on something that may have been a problem'.

He added that it was inappropriate to provide further details as he had not been there.

The activity at that level might not have been the only sign that something was amiss - it was earlier reported that at least six other workers had been told to leave the excavation pit just after 9am after a foreman heard strange noises coming from the steel struts.

However, the Land Transport Authority has said it was unaware of such warnings, and that the only indications of trouble came 10 to 15 minutes before the collapse occurred at 3.30pm that day.

When contacted yesterday, it said it would not comment as there was an ongoing investigation by an inquiry committee.

According to one of the Thai workers rounded up by Mr Heng to do the shoring-up work, they descended into the pit at about 1pm. In the work gang were four Thais, four Indians and Mr Heng.

But a couple of hours later, strange sounds were heard coming from a level above the one where they were working.

In addition, soil was increasingly falling through cracks.

Mr Heng then grabbed one of the Thais and went to investigate.

But while they were gone, the rest promptly fled.

Minutes later, with more soil falling and amid the sounds of steel struts buckling, Mr Heng ordered the last worker, Mr Somkhuan Norinthong, out of the pit.

As the Thai rushed to safety, he turned one last time to ask Mr Heng if he was leaving as well.

Mr Heng only waved the worker away, shouting 'up, up, up!'

Yesterday, crane signalman Kon Ton Suthit, 40, speaking in Thai, said of his foreman: 'Like a captain who refused to abandon ship, he remained for a little while longer but it was too late.

'He was a dedicated and committed man who did not then believe the earth would collapse.'

Meanwhile, it appears that Mr Heng was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

According to Mr Kon, Mr Heng did not normally work at the site of the collapse.

His regular spot was more than 50m away - out of the danger zone.

But last Tuesday, Mr Kon's regular foreman was on medical leave and Mr Heng was covering for him.

If Mr Heng's body is where he was last seen, this would mean it is 30m down - twice as deep as the spot where the bodies of the other three victims were recovered.

Singapore Civil Defence Force rescuers would have had to descend the equivalent of an eight-storey Housing Board block to reach him. Lying in their way were concrete slabs, mud and mangled steel.

But the biggest obstacle they faced was time.

LTA engineers were anxiously monitoring soil movements in the area, and there were fears that the surrounding areas would have been affected if the site was not stabilised quickly.

The search was thus called off.

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Work to stabilise the ground at the site of last Tuesday's highway collapse continues as gaps are filled with a mixture of soil and cement. -- LAU FOOK KONG

Aid: More help for victims' kin

MORE help is on the way for the families of the victims of last week's Nicoll Highway collapse, which killed four people.

A fund is being raised by the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC for the family of Land Transport Authority site inspector John Tan Lock Yong, who lives in Pasir Ris, as well as the family of Chinese construction worker Liu Rongquan, who was his family's sole breadwinner.

In a statement, Mr Ahmad Mohamed Magad, an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, said: 'This is a traumatic and difficult time for them. It is important... for them to be aware that they are not alone.'

The Pasir Ris Citizens' Consultative Committee will administer the fund.

Anyone who wishes to contribute to it can write a cheque to the 'Pasir Ris East CCC', at No 1 Pasir Ris Drive 4, #01-08, Singapore 519457. Indicate either Mr John Tan's Family or Mr Liu Rongquan's Family on the back of the cheque.

Leading the fund-raising initiative for the family of the third victim, Malaysian crane operator Vadivil Nadason, are the Tampines Central grassroots organisations.

Cheques can be made payable to the 'Tampines Central CCC Welfare and Education Fund Committee' and mailed to: Tampines Central Community Centre, Block 866, Tampines Street 83, #01-237, Singapore 520866. Indicate the Nadason Family on the back of the cheque.

Contributions for the Tan, Liu and Nadason families should be sent in by May 31.

For the family of foreman Heng Yeow Peow, Miss Irene Ng, an MP for Tampines GRC and adviser to the Tampines Changkat grassroots organisations, is leading the effort.

Cheques can be made payable to the 'Tampines Changkat CCC Welfare and Education Fund Committee'.

Donors are asked to indicate that the funds are for the Heng family and mail their contribution to: 13, Tampines Street 11, Singapore 529453.

Panel wants more to step up with info

MOM inquiry committee has already begun work

By Arti Mulchand

CALLS have started coming to the Committee of Inquiry, set up by the Manpower Ministry to look into last Tuesday's Nicoll Highway cave-in.

The cave-in, which occurred when retaining walls at the Circle Line MRT worksite there collapsed, killed four men.

Though people are calling, the committee is urging more to come forward so that as much information as possible can be amassed before the June inquiry.

The three-man panel is chaired by senior district judge Richard Magnus. The other two are Associate Professor Teh Cee Ing, who heads the division of geotechnical and transportation engineering at the Nanyang Technological University, and Mr Lau Joo Ming, director of the Housing Board's building technology department.

It has already begun its work: The three men spent more than an hour at the site on Friday, and were briefed on the status of investigations by the Chief Inspector of Factories, Mr Tan Pui Guan, and the police.

They will be briefed again on the progress of investigations in about two weeks' time.

A pre-inquiry conference of parties who wish to be represented in the inquiry will be held on May 14, when the chairman will read the terms of reference and outline the procedures that will be used.

These include ascertaining the causes and circumstances of what led to the collapse and making recommendations to prevent a recurrence.

The committee will also determine if there was negligence, including criminal liability, on the part of any person or party.

It will begin hearings on June 1 at District Court 1, when evidence will be heard, and related documents and photographs examined.

Apart from those who come forward, the committee can also summon witnesses it feels are instrumental. These could include experts in related fields.

The procedures are not unlike other court hearings, where anyone who gives a false statement is liable for prosecution. All proceedings are open to the public.

No date has been been set for when the panel will submit its findings to the ministry, but the inquiry is scheduled to last for about three weeks before deliberations commence.


Those who wish to give evidence or be represented at the hearing may contact committee secretary Mohd Ismadi by May 3 at 18, Havelock Road, #03-02, Singapore 059764, or by phone on 6317-1246, or by e-mail at Ismadi_Mohd@mom.gov.sg

PREVIOUS INQUIRIES

JULY 12, 1992

FIRE on board chemical tanker MV Stolt Spur at Sembawang Shipyard. Six shipyard workers died and 61 were hurt.

• August 1992: 112 witnesses testify during the 18-day inquiry.

• December 1992: The Committee of Inquiry (COI) finds that the fire started as a result of hot works being done in the presence of a flammable chemical.The shipyard, its cleaning subcontractor and some of their workers are held jointly responsible, and the contraventions are referred to the Public Prosecutor.The committee also makes recommendations on improving the safety management system at the shipyard.

• February 1994: Sembawang Shipyard pleads guilty and is fined the maximum penalty at the time - $25,000.

NOV 27, 1992

FIRE on board Bahamas-registered supertanker Indiana at Sembawang Shipyard. Eight died and 14 were injured.

• February 1993: Inquiry spans 12 days. Initial investigations suggested that the explosion and fire had been triggered by sparks from welding work being carried out just above one of the tanks, which fell on combustible sludge below the deck. Committee finds Sembawang Shipyard failed to take all practical steps to remove inflammable substances before cutting work with torches was done. The committee makes urgent recommendations after the Indiana fire. A tough permit system for hot work on ships is suggested.

• February 1994: Sembawang Shipyard is fined $25,000.

FEB 8, 1994

FLASH fire breaks out in the steering room of tanker British Adventure; 10 killed.

• August 1994: The 15-day COI inquiry found that oil had leaked under high pressure from the vessel's hydraulic system, and was ignited by welding work. The COI did not find sufficient evidence to show that anyone had been criminally negligent, but said Jurong Shipyard had failed to take precautions.The COI recommended that the marine industry highlight the danger of hydraulic oil. It advised added precautions when hot work is carried out on or near a hydraulic system.The findings were referred to the public prosecutor.

• November 1994: Jurong Shipyard charged. It pleaded guilty in January 1995 and was fined the maximum of $25,000.

AUG 9, 1994

A FIRE and explosion in a tank on board a cargo ship being converted into a pipe-laying vessel at the Sembawang Bethlehem (SemBeth) yard. Five people died and six were injured.

• September 1994: During a 12-day inquiry, the COI finds that a casual attitude to safety on the part of some SemBeth employees and contractor Seletar Engineering led to the accident.

• April 1995: Shipyard owner SemBeth fined $68,000.It stops giving work to Seletar Engineering, and a paint foreman singled out by the committee for allowing spray painting to be carried out without taking necessary precautions is jailed three months.

• September 1995: Seletar Engineering fined a total of $50,000.

Clean bill of health given to 25 shophouses

They are structurally sound despite presence of cracks, says BCA as it starts checking buildings near MRT Circle Line

By Crystal Chan

FOR eight hours, engineers measured and evaluated the cracks and defects at rows of shophouses in Upper Paya Lebar Road.

The eight-month-old cracks seemed to have worsened in recent months, said their owners and tenants.

But the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) gave a clean bill of health to all the 25 shophouses it probed yesterday, as it began checking buildings near the MRT's Circle Line.

About 150 buildings along Upper Paya Lebar Road as well as Arab and Bussorah Streets will be audited in a precautionary move expected to take up to two weeks.

They are the initial group of buildings that have been identified for the audit as they have shallow foundations and are built on soft soil.

This safety measure follows last Tuesday's accident at the construction site of the Nicoll Highway MRT station, which killed four men.

Said BCA's director of special functions, Mr Ong See Ho, at a press conference yesterday: 'What we want to ensure is that a building is safe and whether we should monitor the situation or carry out remediation works.'

Steel beams are being used to fortify walls with severe cracks while others are patched with cement. Less serious defects will be monitored, the BCA said.

Shopowners told The Straits Times that their walls cracked soon after construction of the Circle Line began.

Mr Francis Arosamy, 50, whose Thennindia Restaurant in Upper Paya Lebar Road is 10m from the Circle Line construction site, has steel beams propping up his walls which he said had moved.

'The door now does not close properly. Also, last Wednesday, I felt the floor sink by two inches...'

However, Mr Chee See Chong, an engineer engaged by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to measure and report on the cracks, said: 'To the layman, the cracks are terrifying, but the building won't collapse as the cracks don't affect the structure.'

He is among a host of engineers appointed by the LTA to do a report on the buildings. These reports are reviewed by the BCA. If there are problems, these engineers as well as those from the BCA will visit the building and decide if action needs to be taken.

Meanwhile, at the collapse site, work to stabilise the ground continues as the gaps are filled with a mixture of soil and cement. It is expected to be completed by the first week of next month.

And last night, the cutting of a span of Merdeka Bridge, which adjoins Nicoll Highway, was completed. It had to be cut so that no stress will be put on it once Crawford Underpass is opened.

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As a precautionary measure, cracks outside Thennindia Restaurant in Upper Paya Lebar Road are patched with cement. -- CHEW SENG KIM

Dads deserve concern too

As we bid farewell to departed fathers, let's remember that a father's contribution to his family - not in just monetary terms but also emotionally - should be recognised

By Clarence Chang

FOUR fathers died at 3.30pm on Tuesday, April 20. Four fathers whom I'd never met, but who moved me and the rest of the country to tears as we followed their loved ones' every cry.

Four fathers whose lives were cruelly snuffed out just because they happened to leave home and show up for work that fateful day at that stretch of road we call Nicoll Highway.

That's perspective for you.

Vadivil Nadason had five daughters, Liu Rongquan had a 14-year-old son, John Tan had two grown-up children, and Heng Yeow Peow left behind two children in primary school. All now have grieving families. All now embody a national tragedy.

As a father myself, I salute their status as family men. Forever remembered, despite their flaws, for their dedication to their craft and their loved ones.

It's times like these that I find myself humbled and shocked at the brevity of life, and how much we take our fathers for granted.

And also sad, that all too often, fathers get such a bad reputation - something painfully obvious just by scouring the stories published in this newspaper in the past year alone.

Fathers beating up their wives. Fathers abusing their maids. Fathers bedding prostitutes on neighbouring islands. Fathers preying on schoolgirls over the Internet. Fathers gambling their life savings away on a whim. Fathers swindling their employers.

Is it any wonder no one's interested in initiating a Father Of The Year award? Is it any wonder Father's Day activities each year are low-key compared to Mother's Day?

It's almost as if women are expected to be long-suffering, dutiful wives and mothers, and society wants to reward their sacrifices (and rightfully so).

But fathers? Please. Get real.

They may be breadwinners, but they've all got huge macho egos that need stroking. Plus, they're hardly at home, so they get what they deserve, right?

Wrong. At the risk of sounding self-serving, I've often wished that fatherhood could be recognised and celebrated in a more tangible way.

Why? Because being a good father these days is just too darn hard. Trapped by the demands of work and home - combined with the realisation your life as it stands now may be as good as it'll ever get - and you've got a surefire recipe for an early mid-life crisis.

Being a Dad, as my peers will attest to, is simultaneously the singular most terrifying and most gratifying sensation any man can have.

How, for instance, can you watch over the values that your child picks up and internalises in your absence? How do you teach him to be socially colour-blind, when all around him, adults are passing judgment based on racial prejudices?

And just how do you put yourself in your child's shoes, so you never belittle his emotions but understand and hopefully, help to overcome the hurt?

Yet persevere we must.

My six-year-old son, a reality TV junkie, went into two crying fits recently just because his favourite contestants - Jasmine Trias from American Idol 3 and Rupert Boneham from Survivor: All-Stars - almost got booted out of his favourite shows.

The outcomes meant so much to him. And Dad was stumped for a response, silently dreading the actual episodes when the axe may fall.

In those dark moments, nine times out of 10, it's Mum the kids turn to for comfort, not Dad. Which brings me back to how the world often perceives our different parenting roles.

Fathers take care of the hardware, mothers the software. Outdated stereotypes? Yes. But still a fair view of reality.

The way out, I feel, lies with ourselves. Just as wives and mothers in the past 20 years have defied societal expectations and scaled mountains which once had 'no entry to women' plastered all over base camp, it's time men broke out of their expected routine.

In short, we should stand up and be counted.

By and large, a father's contribution to his family is still more economic than emotional. A position that stays largely unsung until the financial implications are felt at death.

It's time we remedy this imbalance while we can. With more dual-income families - meaning our wives are also bringing home the bacon - let's also get more emotionally connected to our loved ones.

So go on. Start with the so-called small stuff. Do the grocery shopping. Wash a load of laundry. Take leave when your child falls sick. Forgo the Man U versus Liverpool match for a last-minute family outing.

Then move on to the big stuff. Share your emotions with your partner. Say 'I love you' openly to your family members.

Respect their needs, yet accept your own shortcomings. Be a rock when you need to be one, but also cry when you need to cry.

And, oh yes, anticipate your children's needs, and be around when it counts (like when their favourite TV idols bite the dust).

The last thing you should do is put yourself down and underestimate the impact of your own presence, even if they may run to Mummy first.

Then perhaps we can all undo this collective bad rep together and celebrate fatherhood and all that it means, from however imperfect a starting point, and push it to greater heights.

As the families of the four cave-in victims will tell you, there is no greater legacy.

yar! i just thought of that also... so GROSSS LOR..

APRIL 29, 2004

Hundreds bid farewell to foreman Hero Heng

By Crystal Chan

A MINIATURE casket with a fistful of soil inside was cremated at Mount Vernon yesterday in an emotional funeral for Mr Heng Yeow Peow.

The foreman who died while unselfishly urging his workers to safety in last Tuesday's collapse of an MRT construction still lies buried beneath the rubble.

Though bereft of the comfort of getting back his body, his family went on with the rites to lay him to rest.

The soil was collected at their request from the site where he was last seen alive.

Mr Heng, 40, who worked for Kori Construction, a sub-contractor for the MRT Circle Line project, was one of four men who died in the Nicoll Highway collapse. His body was the only one not found.

The massive cave-in was triggered when a temporary supporting wall for the MRT tunnel collapsed.

Hundreds of people attended his wake in the last few days and his funeral yesterday in Tampines Street 22.

Among them were strangers moved by his heroism to offer comfort to his widow and children. Many could not hold back their tears.

As monks chanted prayers, four buses arrived, carrying 250 co-workers who had come to say goodbye.

They had chipped in for a crystal trophy which was presented to his weeping widow, Sally, and children Daniel, 10, and Joann, eight, in memory of his bravery.

On it was inscribed: 'Specially dedicated to Daniel and Joann. Always remember the courage of your dad Hero Heng. From Kori survivors of Nicoll Highway tragedy 2004.'

Instead of escaping to safety when the beams of the tunnel began caving in, Mr Heng stayed back to make sure that his eight co-workers got out.

As she accepted the trophy, Mrs Heng sobbed: 'Your father was a hero. Don't cry, children, don't cry.'

Among the mourners were men who owed him their lives.

Said Mr Norinthong Somkhuan, 28: 'I'm sad to lose such a good foreman. I've been unable to sleep as I keep thinking of how he saved me.'

Senior executives from Kori and Nishimatsu Corporation, one of the main contractors for the Nicoll Highway project, also came to offer their condolences.

At 3pm, the cortege left for Mount Vernon Crematorium where the casket was cremated at 4.35pm.

The ashes will be placed at Man Fatt Lam Temple in Bedok Road, said Mrs Heng.

On Monday, the wife, son and daughter of Mr Tan Lok Yong, a Land Transport Authority site inspector who also died in the collapse, paid their respects to Mr Heng.

Said Mr Tan's daughter, Catherine, 29, a social worker: 'We came to offer our condolences as we've been through the same pain. Others don't understand how we feel.'

The other two victims were a Malaysian crane operator, Mr Vadivil Nadason, and a Chinese construction worker, Mr Liu Rongquan.

Donations have flowed in for the family. Mr Heng was the sole breadwinner.

So far, more than $30,000 has been collected through Tampines Changkat grassroots organisations, said the family's Member of Parliament, Miss Irene Ng.

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At Mount Vernon Crematorium yesterday, Mr Heng's children, Daniel and Joann pay their last respects. -- LAU FOOK KONG

Crawford Underpass re-opened to motorists

THE Crawford Underpass will reopen today from 6am, now that the section of Merdeka Bridge above it has been removed.

The Land Transport Authority will also open a two-way link between Republic Avenue and Nicoll Highway near The Concourse mall, to improve accessibility in and out of the city.

In a statement yesterday, the LTA said that motorists heading to the city from Kallang Road and Lavender Street can travel along Crawford Street, and through the Crawford Underpass into Republic Avenue to reach the city-bound part of Nicoll Highway.

Those travelling out of the city in the direction of the Kallang/Lavender area can also use this route.

Motorists going through Crawford Street will have to pay the electronic road pricing (ERP) charges for the restricted zone. However, the ERP charge along Kallang Road will still be waived from 8.30am to 9.30am until further notice.

Meanwhile, repair works at the collapse site continues. As of yesterday afternoon, 92 cubic metres of dry mixed concrete had been poured onto the slopes to stabilise the ground there.

57 BUILDINGS DECLARED SAFE

THE Building and Construction Authority (BCA) yesterday gave a clean bill of health to 57 buildings in the Paya Lebar and Upper Paya Lebar areas.

The buildings, mostly shophouses and houses, had only minor defects such as cracks which would not endanger their stability.

Following the Nicoll Highway cave-in, the BCA and the Land Transport Authority have been checking buildings around the areas where excavation work for the Circle Line had been going on.

A BCA spokesman said most of the defects spotted in the 57 buildings have been repaired.

Although work at all Circle Line sites has been stopped after last week's disaster, the BCA said it would allow work which enhances the safety of these sites to continue.

These include base or ground slab concreting, installing additional struts to strengthen the temporary works, soil grouting and the use of additional soil monitoring instruments.

MAY 8, 2004

NINE parties, involving at least 80 people, have been slated to testify at the inquiry into the Nicoll Highway collapse on April 20.

A Ministry of Manpower statement said on Saturday that a pre-inquiry conference will be held on May 14 for all parties who want to be represented at the inquiry. Counsels for these parties will be visiting the collapse site on May 10.

The Committee of Inquiry formed to look into the causes of last month's collapse of Nicoll Highway has been getting updates on on the situation at the worksite, the early findings of the probe team and the sequence of events that day.

The panel on Friday reviewed the progress of the investigations. The panel comprises Senior District Judge and committee chairman Richard Magnus, Associate Professor Teh Cee Ing of the Geotechnical & Transport Engineering Division of the Nanyang Tehnological University and Mr Lau Joo Ming of the Building Technology Department of the Housing and Development Board.

The threesome were named to the panel after a section of highway caved in on April 20, killing four workers and injuring nearly 30 others.

The workers were building the underground Nicoll Highway station of the Mass Rapid Transit's Circle Line in the area. Support beams holding up the tunnels had collapsed, pulling down with them a huge section of Nicoll Highway.

The inquiry panel has a complex task ahead. The MOM statement said that 'in terms of technical content and subject depth, the investigations and the inquiry into this incident will be particularly complex in nature'.

To see ST Interactive's coverage of the Nicoll Highway mishap, click here


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Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 10 May 2004 1654 hrs

By S. Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : The two parties in-charge of construction at the Nicoll Highway cave-in have engaged top local lawyers to represent them.

The Land Transport Authority has engaged Senior Counsel K. Shanmugam, while the main contractor, Japanese firm Nishimatsu-Lum Chang, has hired Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam.

A public inquiry starts next month and ahead of that, several lawyers visited the scene where four people died.

Lawyers representing nine different parties, who are involved in the Nicoll Highway cave-in, visited the MRT Circle Line worksite on Monday.

They were there ahead of Friday's pre-inquiry conference. The lawyers were also briefed on the repair work being done.

Mr R. Govintharasah, Lawyer for Hiap Shing Construction, said: "It helps from the point of view that when you go through with the inquiry and then there are all these terms of reference to the various sites or structures, you get an idea of what these are. You get a good understanding of what is going on. You need this site survey before you can continue."

Apart from a first-hand look at the cave-in, detailed three-dimensional animation of the tunnelling and what might have happened, similar to those shown by Channel NewsAsia, is also being prepared for the Committee of Inquiry.

To assist the inquiry panel in their deliberations, the Manpower Ministry has asked the Nanyang Technological University to prepare a three-dimensional visualisation of the Nicoll Highway collapse area.

The aim is to let the inquiry panel to better understand how the diaphragm walls are constructed and how the collapse could have happened.

And that's the million dollar question, especially for those who lost their family members.

Lawyer Raj Singham, the face of the Andrea De Cruz Slim 10 trial, is representing the family of 56-year-old , John Tan Lok Yong, an LTA engineer who was the onsite supervisor at the construction site.

Mr Singham said: "The inquiry will tell you who are the immediate parties who are culpable and then we will move from there. I want to be at the site to know what actually brought about this tragedy. I think that is important."

The families have been given ballpark figures of the compensation they are likely to receive under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

K.P. Allagarsamy, Lawyer for Malaysian Vadivil's family, said: "The compensation has been indicated to them, about $115,000. They are considering that and we may also look at the other aspect of common law claim. We will just have to deduce all the alternatives, after having seen the site."

If there is a need for a second visit during the inquiry, lawyers said they would definitely be back. - CNA


Copyright © 2004 MCN International Pte Ltd

MAY 4, 2004

Up to $111,000 for each collapse victim

Final payout for family depends on age and salary of those who died

EACH family of the six men who died recently in accidents at the Nicoll Highway and Ayer Rajah construction sites could get up to $111,000 in compensation from insurers.

The final amount will depend on their ages and last-drawn salaries.

According to NTUC Income, which is not an insurer in either case, the amount of workmen's compensation can range from $37,000 to $111,000 in case of a death.

For serious injuries resulting in permanent total incapacity, the payment is from $49,000 to $147,000.

Again, the actual amount depends on the victim's age and salary.

A spokesman for the Manpower Ministry, which administers the compensation scheme, said that all manual workers, regardless of their earnings, are covered by the Workmen's Compensation Act.

The Act requires employers to ensure that workers will receive compensation in the event of an injury at work.

Besides insurance, donations are also pouring in for the families. Various grassroots organisations are collecting money for them.

Almost $18,000 has been raised for the family of Malaysian crane operator Vadivil Nadason, who died in the Nicoll Highway disaster on April 20.

For the family of his colleague, foreman Heng Yeow Peow, Miss Irene Ng, an MP for Tampines GRC and adviser to the Tampines Changkat grassroots organisations, is leading the effort.

So far, more than $110,000 has been collected, she said, adding that the $57,000 mortgage on the family's four-room Housing Board flat has been fully settled under the Central Provident Fund Home Protection Insurance Scheme.

The mandatory death certificate to process the claim was waived in Mr Heng's case.

Said Miss Ng: 'In this case, they did not have the death certificate so I spoke to Mr Mah Bow Tan (National Development Minister) who took up the case immediately.'

The amount collected for the families of the other two men who died at Nicoll Highway is not available.

As for the men who died at the Ayer Rajah site last Thursday, the donation drive started last weekend.

The two are Singaporean foreman Lee Chee Yong and Bangladeshi construction worker Abdul Baten Abdul Jalil.

2 unsafe buildings pose no danger to passers-by

THE two vacant buildings near Circle Line construction sites in the Paya Lebar and Upper Paya Lebar area that were declared unsafe have extensive cracks in the walls and floors.

Defects were also found in the beams and columns, said the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) yesterday.

The two privately-owned buildings will remain vacant, and the BCA said they pose no direct danger to passers-by as they are not accessible to the public.

As to whether the buildings can be repaired, BCA said professional engineers would have to carry out detailed checks on the extent of the damage and whether the buildings' movements have stabilised.

Since the Nicoll Highway collapse two weeks ago, which killed four people, the authorities have been inspecting buildings near the Circle Line construction sites.

To date, the BCA has inspected 120 buildings and no new ones have been declared structurally unsound. It expects to complete its inspections by the middle of this month.

Earlier, it also inspected buildings in Arab and Bussorah Streets, near the Nicoll Highway construction site. Some 15 buildings, mostly shophouses, were checked. All are safe, despite cracks which have appeared on non-structural parts.

Yesterday, people from two shops in Aliwal Street, off Beach Road, reported that they had felt vibrations in their building at about 6pm. Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force confirmed that they received the calls. But a BCA spokesman said last night that officers and engineers had been in the area at about 6pm to carry out an audit review of the buildings, and had not received any feedback about vibrations.

Insurance rate hike looms for contractors

Premiums have doubled in 3 years, but with two disasters last month, they are expecting further increase

By Karamjit Kaur

CONTRACTORS are bracing for a hike in insurance premiums following two major construction site disasters last month, one of which is expected to cost insurers up to $100 million.

Although insurers have not broached the issue with them, the executive director of the Singapore Contractors Association is expecting it.

Said Mr Simon Lee: 'We've not heard anything yet, but there is a high possibility of some increases.'

Already, premiums have doubled in three years. Contractors now pay $30,000, a one-off payment, for a $10 million project.

However, for the Nicoll Highway collapse on April 20 in which four men died, the Land Transport Authority will receive the insurance payout as it bears the cost of the premiums for all MRT construction works.

The primary insurer for the Nicoll Highway project is Aviva Asia. Its business development director, Mr Joe Scollen, would only say that 'any decision (to raise premiums) would depend on a large number of factors'.

In the case of the Ayer Rajah project, China Insurance is one of the insurers. It declined to comment and, like six other insurers contacted, it also refused to say whether higher premiums are being considered.

Two men were killed and 29 injured last Thursday when thousands of steel rods crashed at the site as the foundation was being laid for a high-tech township.

Insurers said it was difficult to estimate the cost because the extent of the damage and the recovery works needed were not clear.

What is almost certain, however, is that contractors would be facing more stringent checks from insurers when they do their pre-risk surveys before undertaking the coverage of a construction project.

Typically, such works are covered by the Contractor All Risk Policy and the Workmen's Compensation Policy which protects workers against any injuries during work.

Apart from the cost involved in the recovery works after a disaster such as the Nicoll Highway collapse, the Contractor All Risk Policy takes care of compensation owed to owners of buildings whose properties may be damaged because of the construction.

Meanwhile, at the two sites, work continues on clearing the mess and ascertaining the cause of the accidents.

A three-member committee has been formed to probe the collapse at Nicoll Highway and to recommend ways to prevent a similar disaster.

It will also look into whether there was any negligence.

-- With additional reporting by Daryl Loo

This story was printed from TODAYonline

Tuesday • May 11, 2004

THE two main parties in charge of construction of the MRT Circle Line at Nicoll Highway have engaged top local lawyers.

The Land Transport Authority has engaged senior counsel K Shanmugam. Main contractor, Nishimatsu-Lum Chang, has hired senior counsel Philip Jeyaretnam.

Lawyers for the nine parties involved in the collapse visited the worksite yesterday and were briefed on the repair work. Lawyer for Hiap Shing Construction R Govintharasah said this would be helpful during the next month's public inquiry.

To assist the Committee of Inquiry, the Manpower Ministry has asked the Nanyang Technological University to prepare a detailed animation of the tunnelling and how the collapse could have happened.

Families who lost their loved ones have been given ballpark figures of the compensation they are likely to receive under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

Mr K P Allagarsamy, the lawyer representing Malaysian victim Vadivil's family, said "about $115,000" was indicated to them. "They are considering that and we may also look at the other aspects of common law claim," he said. — Channel NewsAsia

Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

MAY 11, 2004

TENANTS and shoppers were seen running out from Golden Mile Complex late on Tuesday afternoon after some of them allegedly felt tremors.

Officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were at the scene to help with the evacuation.

They said that talk about the 'tremors' had spread like wildfire through the building, and even those who did not feel the vibrations panicked and left, causing the self-evacuation.

According to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the tremors felt were caused by an earthquake in the Indonesian island of Sumatra measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale.

A statement from the National Environment Agency confirmed that its Meteorological Services Division had detected the quake and said the tremors were also felt at Sim Lim Square, BCA Building and St George's Road.

BCA engineers activated to check the buildings on Tuesday found no signs of distress, and said the buildings were structurally safe.

The Golden Mile Complex tenants' jitters probably came from the complex's location on the edge of the recently caved-in stretch of Nicoll Highway.

The major road crumbled after steel support beams in the nearby Mass Rapid Transit underground construction site gave way on April 20, claiming four lives.

Ever since the collapse, tenants of the complex, tenanted by several small offices and small businesses catering to Thai workers' needs, have been nervous about cracks which they said had opened up on the walls and floors of the complex.

Among buildings in the area, the 16-storey complex is situated closest to the site of the accident.

But the BCA, which has set up monitoring equipment in the complex and some other buildings in the area, has said that the buildings were structurally safe.

Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

MAY 12, 2004

A lack of professionalism

CONTRACTORS going bankrupt and the Nicoll Highway and Ayer Rajah collapses are all symptoms of a deeper problem - the lack of professionalism - within the construction industry.

Unless the cause of this problem is addressed, the Government's efforts at helping contractors financially may prove ineffective. I would like to highlight some observations from my experience as a consulting engineer in Singapore.

The Government's decision not to use price as the only criterion for award of contracts is commendable. What is required now is a clearly declared basis for award of contracts.

The two-envelope method used by the World Bank and other international funding agencies should be considered. Under this method, tenderers submit their bids in two separate envelopes, with the first containing the technical proposal and the second, the financial offer.

Tenderers are shortlisted and selected on the basis of technical excellence. The financial offers of tenderers who are technically inferior are not opened.

If, in the opinion of a panel of experts, the price is reasonable, the contractor with the best technical proposal is awarded the contract. A statement of what constitutes technical excellence in the tender document will ensure that matters of importance are properly addressed.

The decision to expedite payments to contractors is also commendable. Some employers - and consultants - are known to delay legitimate payments as leverage to obtain concessions from contractors. However, the problem is more than just late progress payments. In my experience, a more serious problem relates to unresolved claims for variation orders and unreasonable liquidated damages for late completion.

Employers can reject claims unreasonably because they control the purse strings and can influence the award of future work. But contractors are also not without blame as they often submit claims that are inadequately prepared and not backed by proper documentation.

At the heart of the problem, therefore, is the lack of professionalism. This problem exists with employers, consultants and contractors alike.

Employers need to accept that although there is a price for quality, a quality development is a good investment. Awarding work at a price below cost means that the contractor will either go bankrupt or deliver sub-standard work, both of which ultimately result in greater long-term cost.

Employers also need to appoint consultants on the basis of competence. A consultant who offers his services for an unreasonably low fee will put a junior man on the project, often resulting in an inefficient development.

Unfortunately, some consultants in their zeal for greater market share have resorted to fee cutting at the expense of quality service.

How, then, can we inject greater professionalism into the construction industry? Doing away with price competition and delays in legitimate payments are obvious solutions.

However, we also need to attract engineers, architects and other professionals to seek career opportunities in the construction industry. For example, although our universities produce more than sufficient engineers every year, because of tough working conditions and inequitable remuneration, the best graduates often prefer to seek work in the financial sector or the civil service. Also, those who enter the industry often prefer to do design work in an air-conditioned office rather than manage construction on site. A good engineer needs both design and construction experience.

Insisting on professionals with good CVs as a condition for award of work is a practical solution. I would not be surprised if the findings on both the Nicoll Highway and Ayer Rajah collapses point to unsatisfactory construction supervision rather than design inadequacy.

In short, we need a change in mindset as well as effective corrective action if the construction industry is to emerge from its current sorry state to cope with the challenges of developing Singapore into a modern city of excellence.


LEONG KWOK THYE

Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 12 May 2004 2305 hrs

By Ken Teh, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : The Nicoll Highway collapse and Tuesday's tremors from an earthquake off Sumatra have prompted tenants of Golden Mile Tower and Golden Mile Complex to have second thoughts about the buildings.

Some tenants are now looking for a new place.

About 200 tenants and residents fled on Tuesday after feeling the tremors from the Indonesian earthquake.

While such tremors are not new to Singapore, many fear they are linked to the recent Nicoll Highway collapse.

Some tenants say they are scared and want out.

Mr Richard Fong, Shopowner at Golden Mile Tower, said: "I see no point in staying put here if my clients they do not feel comfortable, my business associates they do not feel comfortable."

Mr Peter Ong, Shopowner at Golden Mile Tower, said: "The business is affected by 20 percent to 30 percent, we used to receive phone calls from customers...they say they are quite worried and probably won't be coming until everything is okay."

When contacted, Golden Mile Tower management did not want to comment.

Shopowners and customers at Golden Mile Complex are getting a bit edgy too.

Business for one shop is down 70 per cent.

One Thai shop assistant said: "Last time got a lot of people, now people scared, only Thai people come."

An office worker said: "We won't leave too important things, so just bring along with us so in case anything happens and we cannot come back."

One customer said: "Safety first, just buy and go, I do not want to stay too long."

Some are still staying on. For them, they are just hoping and praying that life as they knew it, would slowly but surely return to normal.

The authorities will continue to monitor existing cracks but say both buildings are structurally safe. - CNA


Copyright © 2004 MCN International Pte Ltd

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 12 May 2004 2135 hrs


By Julia Ng/Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : The Land Transport Authority announced it would pay contractors up to $1 million to keep their worksites safe.

It is part of a new incentive scheme set up in the wake of the Nicoll Highway cave-in.

But the new scheme also includes new penalties for those with a poor safety record.

It pays to treat safety with the highest priority.

The LTA said the Nicoll Highway collapse was a painful lesson to remind everyone of this.

To drive home the importance of work site safety, the Goverment is introducing new safety incentives and penalties for companies handling major road and rail projects.

Contractors which complete the job with a good safety record will be rewarded with an extra half a percent of the contract sum - up to $1 million.

For those with a poor safety record, they will be penalised with the same amount.

The LTA said these incentives and penalties would apply to new rail projects like Stages Four and Five of the Circle Line, and new road construction projects worth $30 million or more.

The Singapore Contractors Association welcomed the move.

Mr Simon Lee, Executive Director of the Singapore Contractors Association, said: "This is very good because it actually rewards. Because currently it is all penalty and punishment.

"But now it is the enlightened developers who are saying that they will work with the contractor and actually reward the contractor for the excellent safety performance. It certainly gives contractors working on LTA projects a boost because this is something they can look forward to."

Among the criteria that will be assessed each month will be accident records and safety practices. - CNA

The New Paper - 13 May 2004

By Faith Teo

PEOPLE in Golden Mile Complex and neighbouring Golden Mile Tower are used to the 'shakes'.

They felt it when Nicoll Highway collapsed, and they felt it yesterday when Sumatra suffered an earthquake.

In February, the Golden Mile Complex was evacuated after an earthquake hit Indonesia.

Why all this shaking?

And why are no vibrations felt in other areas like Orchard Road?

Well, it's all because of the marine clay on which the buildings sit.

But that's no reason for worry because large cities like Bangkok, Jakarta and Tokyo, which also experience earthquakes, have been built on similar marine clay.


In Singapore, buildings in and around the Beach Road, Tanjong Rhu and Rochor Road areas are prone to movements because the ground they sit on carries vibrations well and even amplifies them.

Marine clay, according to Prof David Higgitt of the National University of Singapore's Geography Department, is soft muddy sediment deposited in the Kallang River Basin thousands of years ago when sea levels were higher.

'Although the marine clay has been compressed and stiffened over time it still has a very high water content, meaning it holds water well. It is very fine-grained, and relatively uniform in nature,' explained Prof Higgitt.

Add to that a shallow 'water-table' of about 1.5 metres - meaning soil gets waterlogged 1.5m under the surface - and it's no wonder that the earth under this area slips and slides easily, and is affected by vibrations from as far as Sumatra, which is about 600km away.

This is unlike areas in Bukit Timah or Sembawang, which sit on hard granite that absorbs similar vibrations.

When water is drained from marine clay, for instance at construction sites, the clay particles settle, sometimes causing the surrounding land to sink.

All this causes cracks in buildings.

Alarmed residents and tenants have reported cracks around not just the two Golden Mile buildings, but also along shophouses on Arab Street, Bussorah Street and Beach Road. These cracks got worse after the Nicoll Highway collapse.

But the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has repeatedly assured the general public that the cracks aren't dangerous.

The cracks that have formed are superficial and do not affect the 'structural integrity' of the building.


And what maintains the structural integrity of buildings sitting on waterlogged marine clay?

Let's take the example of Golden Mile Complex, a 16-storey structure with a basement car park. It houses shops, offices and residential apartments.

According to BCA, piling for Golden Mile Complex goes about 45m into the ground, way past the soft marine clay layers into the hard and dense soil beneath. These piles are seen above ground as structural beams and pillars.

Even if the marine clay layers move, they will not affect the foundation of the building, as it is rooted by these steel beams in much stronger soil that will not give way.

An engineer from a piling company, who did not want to be named, told us that a similar building constructed on much harder ground like granite would require piling only to a depth of 12m to 16m.

This means that cracks in the basement car park at Golden Mile Complex may be alarming to the eye, but are harmless to the structure.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is marine clay?


Marine Clay in Singapore is in two layers - 5,000-year-old clay and 12,000-year-old clay.

Its water content can be very high. Studies have suggested this to be between 30 and 90 per cent.

It also has very high plasticity, meaning it can be easily moulded, but is unable to support weight. This makes it very difficult to build in or on.

Due to the nature of its formation, it can contain a lot of other deposits, such as small pockets of peat. This adds a random factor to the construction process.

Marine clay is more susceptible to vibrations. It carries and amplifies them so well that earthquakes in Sumatra can be felt in Serangoon.

Information and map in this box courtesy of Prof David Higgitt, National University of Singapore, Department of Geography.

Information for main graphic courtesy of the Building and Construction Authority.

Old Alluvium is basically made up of coarse sand and fine gravel which eroded from granite and settled in river channels more than a million years ago and has since compacted into rock.

Copyright © 2004 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.

depressing topic but yeah I read about the earthquake just makes things scarier

MAY 14, 2004

Pieces will be used as evidence in disaster probe

By Goh Chin Lian

GIANT cranes will start lifting steel beams and pieces of debris from the Nicoll Highway collapse site today.

These pieces will be labelled and laid out on a tract of land in Fort Road, along East Coast Parkway, as part of the evidence for the inquiry into the April 20 disaster.

Workers have built a temporary road into the site for heavy vehicles to drive right up to the debris.

They will finish building a second temporary road once they get clearance to remove a crane boom that is in the way, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday.

The Manpower Ministry gave it the green light to lift the debris on Tuesday.

The plan is to start from the top of the pile, by removing a steel beam and a temporary bridge that used to hold a set of cables. Workers will then cut away steel beams and other structures stuck to the cemented ground, and break down the collapsed retaining wall.

A conference will also be held today at the Subordinate Courts on the inquiry into the cause of the cave-in, which occurred at the site of a tunnel for the MRT Circle Line.

Senior district judge Richard Magnus, who is chairing the three-man inquiry panel, will spell out the terms of reference and outline the procedures for the inquiry that is tentatively scheduled for June 1, in District Court 1.

The panel will determine, among other things, whether any party had been negligent in the collapse, which killed four people.

It will also submit a report on the findings and recommendations to Acting Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen.

At least 80 witnesses, including several experts and nine different parties, are expected to give evidence.

Several prominent lawyers are among more than two dozen lawyers involved in the inquiry. They include Senior Counsel K. Shanmugam for the LTA, which is in charge of building the Circle Line, Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam for main contractor Nishimatsu-Lum Chang, and Mr Raj Singam for the family of LTA site inspector John Tan Lock Yong.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

MAY 15, 2004

Parties get more time to prepare; evidence to be heard in August

THE inquiry into the Nicoll Highway collapse, which was due to start on June 1, has been postponed to Aug 2 to give the many parties involved more time to prepare for it and bring in foreign experts.

The parties include the Manpower Ministry, the police and several legal teams.

The change was announced at a pre-inquiry conference yesterday by Senior District Judge Richard Magnus, who is heading the three-man panel appointed by the Manpower Ministry to look into the causes of the April 20 incident.

At the one-hour session at the Subordinate Courts, investigators and lawyers said they would need 'at least 2 1/2 months' to prepare.

This is because of the kind of evidence needed, the case's 'particularly complicated' technical content and the number of witnesses - 'at least 80' - to be called.

On top of that, between seven and 10 local and international experts are likely to be brought in, and they will need time to review and analyse evidence, as well as prepare and exchange reports and rebuttals.

Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam, representing main contractor Nishimatsu-Lum Chang, told The Straits Times: 'The inquiry needs time, to make sure it is thorough and comprehensive, and does justice to the evidence and to the parties.'

The panel also said it would require at least four weeks to hear all sides.

Senior District Judge Magnus outlined too the terms of reference and procedures for the inquiry: The names of expert witnesses are to be submitted by May 27, a list of all witnesses by June 4 and a brief summary of their evidence by June 30.

Lawyers for eight parties were at the meeting, including representatives for the Land Transport Authority, contractors, insurers Aviva, and two of the four men who were killed - Malaysian Vadivil Nadason and site inspector John Tan Lock Yong. Four of Mr Tan's family members were also present.

The other two victims, Mr Heng Yeow Peow and China national Liu Rong Quan, were not represented, but Chinese Embassy official Wei Ning attended.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

MAY 15, 2004

Cranes start to clear debris at accident worksite
Delicate operation will take two months to complete; engineers are also designing new walls to support excavation works

By Goh Chin Lian

CRANES began clearing debris from the Circle Line MRT worksite in Nicoll Highway yesterday afternoon - a delicate operation that will take two months to complete.

By August, workers will start digging up whatever is stuck in the foam concrete that was poured in three weeks ago to stabilise the area.

Mr Rajan Krishnan, director of projects at the Land Transport Authority (LTA), told reporters invited to see the start of the clearing-up operations that engineers are now designing new walls to support the excavation works.

The first item to come out was a crane boom, which had to be moved away so that the workers could extend the temporary road built for cranes and excavators to get closer to ground zero.

Next on the list are several 10m steel beams, each weighing at least four tonnes.

They have to be cut into small pieces before they can be moved.

'The steel pieces are intricately intertwined with one another, so cutting one piece may cause others to move,' said Mr Krishnan.

The plan also calls for workers to dismantle an excavator part by part, and remove a broken bridge that is perched on several steel struts.

The cranes will stop work after dark and when it rains.

For now, two cranes are in use.

One can lift at least three tonnes, the other, six tonnes.

Each piece extracted from the wreckage will be painted with a serial number so that it can be used as evidence by the inquiry committee looking into the collapse on April 20 that killed four people.

The debris will be stored on a tract of land in Fort Road, along the East Coast Parkway.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 15 May 2004 1312 hrs

By Debra Soon, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : The Land Transport Authority will introduce additional level of checks at each stage of excavation works for the Circle Line.

This was announced by the Building and Construction Authority as a result of a safety review of all construction for the line after the collapse of Nicoll Highway.

It also says that deep excavation works at four Circle Line MRT sites resume on Saturday.

The works, which were suspended pending a safety review, will start at Dhoby Ghaut, Convention, Millenia and Harbourfront Stations.

The remaining project sites in the Circle Line are still being reviewed.

For the 4 approved sites, professional engineers and LTA have confirmed that the designs of the temporary works for excavation are safe.

Various safety and monitoring measures are also in place.

The BCA says it has also conducted site visits and that the structural stability of the buildings near these stations has not been affected by the construction work. - CNA

Copyright © 2004 MCN International Pte Ltd

Good they have restarted.....I dunt like delays....

Good they have restarted.....I dunt like delays....

They better do a quick and good job....I wonder I will be affected should I decide to go back to school next term...... :wallbash:

They better do a quick and good job....I wonder I will be affected should I decide to go back to school next term...... :wallbash:
Just take the long-winded bus route loh....I am already effected by it now.

Just take the long-winded bus route loh....I am already effected by it now.

Aiyo....means must go earlier already....damn sian..... :bash:

Aiyo....means must go earlier already....damn sian..... :bash:
So you confirm go 4th year lah? :D

So you confirm go 4th year lah? :D

Don't ask....I damn stress..... :wallbash:

Don't ask....I damn stress..... :wallbash:
Oh well....3 days left. Better enjoy the forums now. :D

Oh well....3 days left. Better enjoy the forums now. :D

*faint* from stress....... :bash:

*faint* from stress....... :bash:
Take it easy lah...dont collapse like Nicoll Highway!

Take it easy lah...dont collapse like Nicoll Highway!

Haha....I won't....I very "strong" one.......:D

what 4th year?

what 4th year?

4th year in "battlefield"........:D

Army?:D

Army?:D

In a "battlefield" where minds "fight" to stay afloat......

Hint: You will go there if you study hard enough......

Oh ,Uni?:D

Oh ,Uni?:D
Universe? Yeah lah...arent we all in it? :)