Part of an under construction PIE highway structure at Upper Changi Road East collapsed early this morning on Friday (July 14, 2017) resulting in 1 dead and 10 injured.
The accident is at a slip road into Pan Island Expressway (PIE) towards the Changi Airport.
The cause of the PIE structure collapse is unclear at this stage and the authorities said investigations are ongoing.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to this incident at 3.35 am. About 60 SCDF officers, including members of the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) as well as K9 dogs, are deployed for a search and rescue operation which lasted 3 hours.
All workers at the site had been accounted for at 6.45 am. It is unclear how many workers were involved at the site during the accident.
The injured workers were from India, Bangladesh and China and were taken to the Changi General Hospital.
Seven of the 10 injured workers had to be admitted for treatment. One of them has been discharged. Another two workers conditions are currently still under review by the doctor.
None of the 10 workers are in critical condition as of now.
A police hearse carrying the body of a 31-year-old worker who died left the scene at 7 am.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) released a media statement regarding the accident:
At about 0330 this morning, a section of the viaduct structure between two piers collapsed at the worksite where the new road viaduct from TPE (Changi) to PIE (Westbound) is being constructed.
The contractor, Or Kim Peow Contractors Pte Ltd, was carrying out works to cast the decking for the new viaduct adjacent to the slip road from Upper Changi Road East to PIE (Changi). For the safety of motorists, the slip road was closed to traffic while the works were being carried out. The collapsed structure spilled onto the slip road, making the road impassable.
11 workers were working on top of the structure during the accident. One worker was killed and the other ten injured. The injured workers were immediately sent to Changi General Hospital.
The deceased worker is from the People’s Republic of China, while among the injured, 7 are from Bangladesh and the other 3 from the People’s Republic of China.
LTA engineers, contractors and personnel are on site working with SCDF and Police to manage the situation. LTA has also begun safety investigations into the cause of the accident in order to see if there are any lapses or gaps we would need to address urgently. In this regard, LTA has among others, directed the professional engineers (qualified persons in design & supervision) who were responsible for the project to carry out detailed investigations into the design and construction quality of the affected structure. LTA is also working with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on their investigations.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the corbels supporting the pre-cast beams had given way. As a precautionary measure, LTA is checking all other work sites.
Works at all LTA road and rail construction sites will observe a safety timeout this morning.
We are saddened by the accident and will do whatever we can to assist the families during this difficult time. LTA officers have been assigned to help the injured workers and the families.
If you’d like to contribute your story to us, drop us an email at editors@sureboh.sg and we’ll review it. We read each submission that comes to us within two weeks of receiving it.
