SMRT Supporting Train Captain & Station Manager, Who Remained Calm & Collected, Handled Situation Well
On Thursday (25 Feb) night, a shocking incident took place on Singapore’s MRT system.
A man passed away after being run over by a train on the tracks between Kallang and Lavender stations.
The above-ground tracks where the incident occurred.
Source
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung revealed that the train captain and station manager were understandably shaken by the incident.
However, the public’s questions can’t be answered yet, as investigations are ongoing.
Ong Ye Kang calls incident ‘distressing’
In a Facebook post on Friday (26 Feb), Mr Ong addressed the incident for the 1st time.
Calling the incident “distressing”, he said the train captain and station manager who were involved were “shaken” by it.
However, they managed to remain calm and collected, and handled the emergency well, he added.
Description of what happened
An indication of what was experienced by the 2 SMRT staff was described by the company in a Facebook update on Friday (26 Feb) afternoon.
According to SMRT, the train captain was driving towards the direction of Pasir Ris when he felt the train hit something at about 9pm.
The station manager then went out on the track and found a man’s motionless body about 150m away from Kallang MRT station.
That must have been traumatic for both of them.
SMRT supporting both staff
Mr Ong said SMRT is supporting both staff involved.
He also sent his condolences to the victim’s family and loved ones.
The minister then acknowledged that the public would have a lot of burning questions over the incident.
How did the man get onto the tracks?
For example, how did the man get onto the train tracks?
Unless the 31-year-old was a staff member, one would think that there would be security features to prevent the members of the public from straying.
Mr Ong also alluded to the security features, saying platform screen doors at above-ground stations were built due to previous similar incidents.
He also said that tracks outside of station are either high up on viaducts, underground or fenced up.
Limit to what can be said
Unfortunately, Mr Ong couldn’t provide any answers yet.
That’s because investigations are ongoing, where SMRT is working closely with the police
Thus, “there is a limit” to the info that can be given to the public, he added.
However, the police did tell Channel NewsAsia (CNA) one thing – they don’t suspect foul play, based on theur preliminary investigations.
Incident caused Lavender & Kallang stations to be closed
In their post, SMRT also said they were assisting police investigations.
They also said what was also reported on the ground – that train services were suspended between Bugis and Aljunied stations in both directions.
That caused Lavender and Kallang stations to be effectively closed.
Lavender was quiet when MS News went down at around 11pm on Thursday (25 Feb) night.
Over at Kallang station, the entrance was cordoned off no one was allowed to enter.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) vehicle and police cars were also stationed outside.
SMRT said they’re “saddened” over the man’s death, and conveyed their deepest condolences to his family.
Best not to speculate
Though many questions are still left unanswered, what we know is that a man’s life has been tragically lost.
Thus, out of respect to his family, it’s best not to speculate over what happened and wait till the confirmed story is released by the authorities.
MS News extends our deepest condolences to the deceased’s family.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Google Maps.
